Shattered
by VoodooQueen
Summary: Every war has its casualties but there are some things even worse than death. Familial ties and faction loyalty will be tested. Eventual/Possible romance in future chapters. Rating has changed to M due to forthcoming content.
1. Chapter 1

**Shattered: Chapter 1**

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**"Parents, however old they and we may grow to be, serve among other things to shield us from a sense of our doom. As long as they are around, we can avoid the fact of our mortality; we can still be innocent children."**

**-Jane Howard**

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**Cybertron: Autobot Stronghold**

The two young sparklings, a mech and a femme, sat huddled close together as they played on the cold metal floor of the underground bunker that sheltered them from the chaos outside. They did their best to block out the sounds of the vicious battle that raged just beyond the reinforced metal walls that surrounded them. The noise was getting harder and harder for them to ignore, however, as each new explosion seemed to creep closer and to their little sanctuary causing the walls of the bunker to shake and tremble under the strain.

Their scavenged toys were immediately forgotten as the screech of an incoming missile filtered down to their audio receptors followed by a tremendous shuddering impact that caused the entire structure to lurch violently around them. The sound had been deafening, causing the little blue femme to whine in fright and scoot closer to the slightly older yellow mech beside her. The little mech protectively wrapped one small arm around his friend's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her and keep her safe even though his large, blue optics held the same fear as hers did.

The femme cast a frightened glance up at the yellow mech. "That sounded really close…"

"It's okay." The mech gave her a reassuring squeeze. "We'll be safe in here. They wouldn't have left us here otherwise…" He put as much conviction into his voice as he could; wanting to console his friend as well as convince himself that what he said was true.

"Yeah…" The femme nodded hesitantly and, finding the little mech's embrace comforting, scooted even closer. "You're right."

The sparklings understood little about the battle going on just outside the bunker or the concept and reasoning behind it, innocent as they were. The terms Autobot and Decepticon still meant very little to them beyond knowing that the group of mechs and femmes they loved and interacted with on a daily basis were of the former designation. They had yet to grasp the hard reality of the war going on all around them. They just knew it was scary to listen to the distant sounds of explosions as they tried to recharge at night.

Vaguely, the little yellow mech understood that the war had cost him both of his creators. Not a cycle went by that he didn't think of them. He missed them terribly, but he was forever thankful to Primus for the group of rebel soldiers who had found him, alone and frightened, and had taken him in without question. One of them had even had a sparkling about his own age for him to play with. He and the little femme had become the best of friends almost immediately. He had lost one family it seemed, but he had gained another that cared about him just as much as his creators had. All things considered, he believed himself to be very fortunate.

"Everything will be alright. I know it will be." The little mech hugged his friend tighter as she whimpered. He wouldn't let anything happen to her.

The femme nodded stiffly, praying to Primus that her yellow friend was right. Truthfully, she worried constantly over her own creators. They were out there right now, both her mother and father, in battle with the Decepticons. Her biggest fear was that one day they would leave and not come back like so many others had, like her friend's creators. Just thinking about the possibility caused a pang of panic to race across her synapses. She didn't fully understand death at her age, but knew that when it happened to a mech they never came back. It had been her father that had finally been able to put her processor at ease, assuring her that she would never ever be alone.

Another sudden explosion rocked the bunker sending a rain of debris falling from the ceiling down around the two sparklings. They quickly scurried back to the far corner of the bunker, avoiding the larger chunks of metal that fell in their path. Once in the relative safety of the corner, the little mech pulled the femme into an almost crushing embrace. The tiny femme hugged him back just fiercely as their small frames trembled against one another in fear.

"Bumblebee?" The femme looked to the mech for some sort of reassurance.

"Shhh," the mech tried to soothe her. "It's going to be okay..."

Suddenly, the hatch above them flew open sending a small rain of debris onto the floor around them and exposing the dark, smoke filled sky for them to see. The acrid smell of hot, burning metal wafted down to where they both sat terrified of what lurked beyond the shadowy opening. Not knowing what to expect, the two sparklings huddled together even closer for protection. Much to their collective relief, they heard a familiar voice bellowing from above.

"They're advancing! Everyone get ready to move! The shuttle is on its way! Elita, get the sparklings!"

"Father!" The femme recognized the voice immediately and her optics brightened. She tried to make a break for the open hatch, but the yellow sparkling held her fast.

"Wait." The mech could vaguely make out the shape of someone moving around outside the hatch.

A tall, lithe figure dropped easily through the opening just as another missile hit causing the bunker to rattle dangerously. The pink femme eyed the creaking roof of the bunker warily as she frantically gestured to the sparklings to come to her. "Bumblebee, Sway...come to me! We have to go! Hurry!"

The sparklings scrambled across the floor as fast as their tiny limbs would allow and flung themselves into the safety of the femme's arms. Hoisting one sparkling up on each hip, the femme picked her way quickly back through the fallen rubble to the hatch.

Sway buried her face in her mother's neck, thankful just to be held by her. "What's happening?"

Elita looked at her young daughter. It pained her to see so much fear in her optics. "The Decepticons are coming this way. There's too many of them for us to hold off. We have to leave before they get any closer. Your father has called for an extraction. The shuttle will be here soon."

Bumblebee tightened his grip on the pink femme that had become like a second mother to him. "Where are we going to go?"

Elita tried her best to reassure the little mech she had become so fond of. "Somewhere safe, Bumblebee, somewhere safe."

"Elita?" Optimus Prime poked his head in through the hatch. "The shuttle's here! We have to go! Now! Hurry! Hand them up to me!"

Sway latched onto her mother's leg as she sat her down onto the ground so that she could pass Bumblebee up to her father's waiting hands. No sooner had Prime lifted the little mech to safety, another blast hit the bunker directly, sending Elita sprawling onto the ground and flinging Sway off into the corner of the collapsing room. The sparkling off lined immediately at the harsh impact as more of the battered structure crumbled down on top of her, effectively burying her alive.

"Elita, get up!" Optimus tried to force his way through the hatch to reach his bond mate, but there was too much rubble in the way. "Elita!"

Elita sat up, dazed. The force of the impact had jumbled her processor. Feedback echoed through her neural relays. She shook her head to try to clear it. Someone was yelling at her. She looked up to see the face of her mate hovering above her. He was yelling something that she couldn't quite make out with all the static in her mind. "Wha-what?"

"Where's Sway?" Optimus' voice was full of urgency.

Elita looked around herself confused. "Sway..."

Optimus covered his head as another blast sent large chunks of metal raining down. "Our sparkling, Elita! Find our daughter!"

"Sway?" Something inside Elita's processor clicked suddenly. "Sway!" She searched around herself frantically; digging through the piles of the crumbled ceiling. "Sway, where are you? Sway! Answer me!" She reached out desperately through the bond she shared with the sparkling. Nothing but emptiness echoed back to her. She looked desperately up at her mate. A terrified cry worked its way out of her voice processor. "Optimus, I can't find her! She isn't answering!"

"Optimus!"

Optimus whipped around to see his weapons specialist hovering over him. "Ironhide..."

The burly mech had to yell to be heard over the sound of another incoming missile screaming overhead. "Optimus, the Decepticons have breached the perimeter! The shuttle can't wait much longer! We have to fall back!"

Optimus shook his head negative. "We-we can't find Sway..."

The other mech's optics grew wide. "Oh, Primus..." Ironhide knelt beside Prime and looked down into the hole. "Elita, what happened?"

Elita was openly sobbing now. "I-I c-can't find her. I can't…"

Another blast hit its mark causing the ground underneath Optimus and Ironhide to quake and screech with the sound of bending metal.

"Frag it all to the Pit!" Ironhide clawed at the rubble around the hatch. "This whole thing is going to give! Elita, you've gotta get outta there!"

Elita shook her head as moisture streamed down her faceplates. "I'm not leaving without my sparkling. We-we can't leave her! Optimus?" She looked up at her mate with pleading optics. "We can't..."

The ground made a loud groan as the metal that supported the structure underneath bent under the strain. Optimus felt as if his very spark was being ripped out its chamber at the thought of the decision he now faced. His and Elita's beautiful creation was somewhere in that crumbling pit but he had an entire crew to think about and not leaving now could cost them all their lives. He was never an overly religious mech but he closed his optics all the same and prayed to Primus for guidance.

"Optimus," Ironhide's urgent voice cut through his thought process causing his optics to snap open. "Scouts are reporting Decepticons about two clicks to the west and closing. Prowl has ordered everyone to fall back to the shuttle. We can't stay here. We have to move."

"Sway..." Optimus shuttered his optics and nodded. "Understood."

"Optimus, no!" Elita tried to back further into the bunker, but was stopped as her mate's arm shot inside and seized her and quickly hauled her out of the hole. As soon as she had cleared the opening, another explosion proved to be the final burden the structure was able to withstand as the bunker collapsed inward on itself, burying everything inside. "Primus, no!" Elita desperately tried to dig back through the debris. "Sway!"

"Optimus!" Ironhide quickly grabbed the hysterical femme and slung her over one broad shoulder. The rumble of approaching Decepticon forces could be heard getting closer. "We have to go! Now!" He used the other arm that wasn't keeping Elita from thrashing loose to roughly propel his Commander, now numb with the loss of his only sparkling, forward toward the waiting shuttle.

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Small blue optics slowly came online. It was pitch black inside the tiny, uncomfortably hot space. The little femme found herself curled up into a tight ball. She immediately found that she couldn't move. There was something incredibly heavy lying on top of her chest, pressing into her spark casing and making it extremely difficult for her energon pump to work. She could also feel something pressing sharply into the tender, malleable metal of protoform above her left knee joint, causing her excruciating pain and the cleansing fluid that kept her optics clean and lubricated to flow down her faceplates.

There were frightening messages flashing across her field of vision she had never seen before. Dire warnings of emergency stasis and fatal internal errors nearly swamped her. She didn't really know what any of the warnings meant but she was certain they entailed nothing good. Shifting as much as she was able to try to relieve some of the pressure on her chest cavity, she felt something tear. The searing pain was followed by the sensation of a warm, thick liquid flowing down her chest plating. Panic gripped the young femme. Where were her creators?

Sway strained her audio receptors for any sound. Other than the occasional creak and groan of the stressed metal surrounding her and her own stuttering cooling system, it seemed deathly quiet. All the explosions from earlier seemed to have stopped. A panicked cry worked its way out of her vocal processor when she realized she couldn't even hear the rumble of the shuttle's engines anymore. They couldn't have left her behind. They wouldn't. They loved her too much to just leave her here alone and hurt and scared. Didn't they?

_Of course they love you. Don't be ridiculous._

Despite her terror, her unwavering faith in both of her creators told her that they would come searching for her. _Yes_, she told herself, they were probably looking for her right now. When they found her they would make everything all better, just as they always did. Tonight she would be once again snuggled safe in her father's arms as he told her and Bee stories about how Cybertron used to be before the war. Then, after their nightly energon ration, her mother would tuck them both in to recharge. Those were Sway's last conscious thoughts to run through her worried processor before her struggling body offlined all non-vital processes and sent her into emergency stasis in order to perform desperately needed maintenance on her battered systems.

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**End of Chapter 1**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Shattered: Chapter 2**

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**"If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever."**

**-The Crow (1994)**

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**Autobot Shuttle**

Optimus leaned against the wall; his broad shoulders slumped in defeat as he listened to the wailing of his beloved spark mate in the next room over as she cried out her grief over the loss of their sparkling. The only thing even remotely keeping him from joining her in her hysteria was the obligation he had to the rest of his crew. He was the bearer of the Matrix. He was Prime. He needed to be strong for them. He would be no good for anyone if he gave into the despair that threatened to consume his spark.

However, tears threatened to fall whenever he thought of the way his daughter's innocent blue optics had always looked up into his own with such absolute trust and confidence. He had betrayed that trust by leaving her to die, scared and alone, in a dark pit. He wanted so badly to try to reach out to his daughter through the familial bond they shared as he often did to reassure himself of her wellbeing, but was terrified of the emptiness he would surely find in the place where she used to be. Unable to hold it in any longer, a pained sob worked its way out of his vocal processor.

"Sir, are you going to be alright?"

Optimus ran a hand over his bleary optics before looking at his Second in Command. "No, Prowl. I'm not. I shouldn't have left her."

"Sir," Prowl seemed to be considering his words carefully. "I know this must be very difficult for you. I won't even pretend to know how you're feeling but had we stayed any longer the Decepticons would have overrun us. There is no way we would have been able to hold them all off. None of us would be here. You made the logical decision..."

Prime pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his optics shut. "Logical or not, I'm her creator. She depended on me to keep her safe. I told her I would never let anything harm her. She trusted me without question and I failed her. I should have stayed behind and tried to get to her."

"Sacrificing yourself wouldn't have helped the cause or your daughter, Optimus."

Optimus looked up to see the medic standing in the doorway. "Ratchet…"

Prowl quietly excused himself with a nod to his superior as the CMO entered.

Ratchet waited for the SIC to exit the room before he continued, "Optimus, it's highly unlikely a full grown mech would have survived that cave in, let alone a sparkling." The medic placed a hand on his Commander's arm. His own spark ached at the loss of the little femme. While some might have viewed him as a grumpy old medic, he had always had a special fondness for sparklings. He had grown to love both Sway and Bumblebee and losing one of them hurt him terribly. The medic sighed sadly. "I know this probably doesn't help but, Elita gave me the impression Sway was unresponsive to her attempts to locate her through their bond. That means she was most likely offline when it happened. She probably didn't feel a thing."

Optimus nodded his head weakly as he tried to hold back another sob. At least, perhaps, it had been quick and his beautiful daughter hadn't suffered. Suddenly realizing that he could no longer hear his spark mate in the other room, he met the medic's optics. "How is Elita?"

"She's resting. She was stressing her systems. I thought I was going to have to knock her offline but she's managed to calm down some. Personally, I'd say she's exhausted herself." He sighed. "You two really need to be together right now. You should go to her."

"I don't even know what to say to her, Ratchet. This is my fault." Optimus' voice finally cracked and he buried his face in his hands and his shoulders shook as emotions finally overcame him.

"Optimus..." Ratchet, in one of his more tender moments, pulled his Commander into an embrace. "I truly am sorry. I know it's the natural instinct for a creator to blame themselves when something tragic like this happens to their sparkling but I want you to know that none of this is your fault. No one blames you. Elita doesn't blame you." He kept his arms wrapped around the larger mech for some time as he cried out all his pain and anger and guilt. He didn't let go until Prime's shoulders had stopped heaving.

Prime tried to compose himself as he pulled away from the medic. "Thank you, Ratchet."

Ratchet patted him on the arm. "Go to Elita, Optimus. Please. You need each other right now. This is something you two will have to work through together."

Optimus nodded and allowed Ratchet to lead him out of the strategy room and into the common room where some of the crew had gathered after the battle. Prowl stood silently in the corner near a window, gazing out at the passing scenery as the shuttle rocketed them toward their destination. Jazz, the normally upbeat Special Ops Officer, was unusually quiet as he sat propped against the wall with his visor down and staring off into space. Hound, Hot Rod, and Arcee were grouped together on one side of the room talking quietly. Arcee seemed to be fighting an emotional breakdown of her own. The small femme had been especially close to both of the sparklings, spending hours with them at a time, playing with them and trying to keep their little processors off of the chaos that surrounded them. The other two mechs would occasionally put a comforting hand on one of her shoulders as she wiped at her optics.

The little yellow sparkling seemed to suddenly come out of nowhere and attach himself to Optimus' leg. He chirped worriedly up at the blue and red mech. Bee knew something was terribly wrong. Sway was nowhere to be found and everyone was deathly somber. His big, blue optics looked up at the enormous mech as he stretched out his small arms, asking silently to be picked up by the Autobot Commander.

Optimus looked down upon the remaining sparkling with sad optics and stroked the mech's head affectionately before scooping him up off of the floor. The sparkling tucked his head under Prime's chin. Optimus sighed, "Bumblebee..."

"Not now, little one." Ratchet gently took the little mech from Prime. The sparkling let out a troubled warble in protest.

"Here, I'll take him, Ratchet." Chromia rose from where she crouched next to Ironhide. She had been trying to reassure her bonded that he had done the right thing. It wasn't doing much good, as in hindsight, Ironhide had decided that there must have been something more he could have done to change the outcome of the current situation. Her mate took his responsibility toward Prime very seriously and felt as if he had failed his leader in the worst way imaginable.

"Thank you, Chromia." Ratchet handed Bumblebee off to the femme before ushering Optimus out of the room.

Bumblebee made a series of clicking noises as he looked to the femme that now held him and back to Optimus as Ratchet led him out of the room. A mechanical whine came out of his voice processor as his little optics fogged over with condensation. "What's going on?"

"Shhh..." Chromia bounced the little mech on her hip as her own optics threatened to mist over. "Let's go see if we can cheer up old Ironhide, alright?"

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**Cybertron: Former Autobot Stronghold**

The Decepticon moved swiftly through what was left of the Autobot stronghold. It was his task to search out and exterminate any survivors of the Decepticon siege. It was a job he performed with a certain amount of detachment. He really didn't care one way or the other for the opposing faction...or his own for that matter. He did what he did, not out of malice or contempt for the other side, but because it was his duty. It was a job, a function. Nothing more, nothing less. He had sworn once to uphold Lord Megatron's commands and he did so even now to the best of his ability. If that meant permanently deactivating a few Autobots along the way, then so be it. He wouldn't lose any recharge over it.

He was making one final sweep of the vicinity assigned to him when he heard it. It was so faint that at first he had thought his audio receptors were playing tricks on him. He rebooted his audio system and it was still there. A tiny whimpering cry seemed to waft up from the rubble in front of him. He instantly recognized the hauntingly familiar sound of a sparkling crying.

A strange sense of urgency seemed to overcome him then as he began to frantically dig through the tangled, twisted heap of metal before him to reach whoever was making the pitiful noise. Struggling, he hoisted an enormous beam out of the way to reveal a small femme trapped underneath. He carefully lifted her small body from the hole.

He was a medic by no means, but he could tell the sparkling was critically injured. Offline as she was, she was still whining in agony as her internal systems attempted to self-repair and reboot. Energon and lubricant leaked freely from a deep gash across her chest. He could see her spark through a large tear in her armor and knew she was infinitely lucky the beam itself hadn't penetrated all the way through the gap and into her spark chamber. That would have most certainly offlined her permanently.

He could also see some damage to her protoform through the gaps in the light armor protecting her vital components and beneath the battered armor of her left leg. It was clear to him that if she wasn't seen by a medic soon, she would permanently offline. Brushing some of the sediment and dust from her face a look of shocked recognition washed over his features. It couldn't be.

"Primus..."

It couldn't be, but it was. He would have recognized the little femme anywhere. He had seen her before, prior to the breakdown in negotiations that had led to armed conflict between the two Cybertronian factions. This wasn't a random sparkling caught in the crossfire. This was none other than the offspring of Optimus Prime himself, Lord Megatron's only niece.

A grin spread across the Decepticon's face. This was good news for the sparkling he held. He could take her back to the field base with him as opposed to being forced to leave her here to die...or exterminate her himself. While he had no qualms about ripping the spark right out of an Autobot's chassis, a sparkling was another case all together. He may be a Decepticon, yes, but he was no monster.

He was certain Megatron be pleased with the acquisition of something held so near and dear to his brother's spark and see to it that the little femme received adequate medical care to repair her injuries. It may be for no other reason than to rub it in his brother's face, but it was enough. The sparkling wouldn't be dying today. The Decepticon cradled the limp sparkling against his chest as he picked his way back through the destruction toward the area where his unit was busy setting up their base camp.

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**Autobot Shuttle**

"Elita?" Optimus approached his bonded cautiously. He eased his bulk down to sit on the edge of the recharge berth next to where she lay prone. He gently ran one large hand down her back. "May I?"

The pink femme shifted slightly to make room for the larger mech, allowing him to stretch out beside her. Only after the mech was settled next to her did she speak. "She's really gone, isn't she?"

A pained sigh escaped the Autobot leader. He fought to keep his voice steady as he answered. "Yes, she is."

Elita rolled onto her side to look her mate in the optics. "Why did this have to happen, Optimus? I don't understand. Why? What did we ever do that was so horrible to deserve something like this?" Her optics shined with unshed tears.

"I don't…" Optimus could feel his own optics filling with fluid. "I don't know."

"It isn't right." Elita rolled back onto her back. Her voice raised slightly in pitch as she struggled to keep herself together. "It isn't fair…"

Optimus nodded his head in agreement. "I know."

Elita began to curl in on herself as emotions came flooding back to the surface. Her entire body shook as she was overcome. "I want her back so badly…"

"Elita…" Optimus turned onto his side and pulled the femme to his chest. "I'm so sorry, so sorry…"

Elita sobbed into her mate's chest. "I loved her so much. Do you think she knew how much I loved her? Do you?"

"I do." Hearing his spark mate in so much pain, Optimus could no longer hold in his own. His own tears ran silently down his face to mingle with hers. "She knew, Elita. She knew. Of that much I am certain…"

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**End of Chapter 2**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Shattered: Chapter 3**

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**"A hospital alone shows what war is."**

**-Erich Maria Remarque**

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**Cybertron: Decepticon Field Hospital**

The Decepticon leaped over what was left of the perimeter fence that separated the ruined Autobot base from where his unit was setting up their own. He kept the limp body of the sparkling clutched securely against his chest as he cautiously approached the field hospital, wary of the strange glances he received from those he strode passed. He watched the medics and engineers scurrying back and forth between patients, trying to patch up the worst of the injured Decepticon soldiers. His optics scanned through the medical personnel trying to find a particular face among the crowd. There, at the far end of the field hospital, he saw who he was looking for. He glanced down at the little femme in his arms before hurrying in the direction of the medic; shoving others roughly out of his way as he went.

"Hook!"

The surgical engineer spun around at the sound of his name to see the scout trotting quickly toward his direction. He eyed the other mech up and down as he visually scanned for injuries. "What is it, Breakdown? You don't look damaged. Is it your fuel pump again? Because if you hadn't noticed I'm really kind of busy..." His optics drifted down to what the mech had held against his chest. His head jerked back up to look the scout in the face. "Primus, Breakdown! Is that...a sparkling?"

Breakdown nodded. "I found her buried under the rubble on the far side of the compound. She's seriously injured."

"Well, don't just stand there like a slagging idiot," Hook quickly cleared the table next to them. "Put her down here."

Breakdown gently lay the sparkling down before the medic. "Can you repair her?"

"Quiet." Hook held up a hand to silence the scout as he ran his diagnostics on the little femme. "She's leaking to death." He quickly clamped some of the main tubing that was allowing the energon to pour out of her tiny body. "Structural damage to the underlying protoform, trauma to the spark casing, core processor failure, internal maintenance subroutines barely functional, multiple exposed neuro filaments, energon level critical at less than twenty percent..." Hook stopped naming off problems and looked at Breakdown. "I'm amazed she hasn't permanently offlined yet. It may have been kinder if you had just ended her misery."

Breakdown narrowed his optics at the mech. "I couldn't..."

Hook held up his hand to silence the scout once again. "I know." He looked down at his patient. "She's lucky you had the logic capacity to bring her to me when you did. Any longer out there and she wouldn't have made it. I believe I can fix this. It's going to take some time, though." He shot an inquisitive glance at Breakdown. "What are you going to do with her?"

Breakdown looked Hook in the optics, a grin pulling at his faceplates. "I'm taking her back to the Nemesis."

Hook scoffed at what he perceived to be the other mech's stupidity. "I can see you've thought this through, Breakdown. The poor thing would stand a better chance out there buried under all that debris than she would on the Nemesis. Besides, Megatron would never allow it. You know his stance on femmes and sparklings as well as I do."

Breakdown shrugged. "I'm certain he'll be willing to make an exception in this case."

"Really?" Hook cocked an optic ridge at the statement. "You sound pretty confident in that statement. What makes you so sure?"

It was Breakdown's turn to look at Hook as if he were dull. "She's his niece."

Hook's optics went wide. "This..." He motioned towards the unmoving sparkling. "This is Prime's creation? Are you sure?"

Breakdown nodded. "Positive."

"Primus..." The mech looked at the sparkling with something akin to awe. The offspring of a Prime was something special indeed. "Why? Why would they leave her behind?"

Breakdown again shrugged. "Looked like one of our missiles hit the bunker she was in. The whole thing collapsed. They probably couldn't get to her. Guess they figured she wouldn't have survived."

"With these injuries…" Hook quickly pinched off more leaks allowing precious energon to escape the sparkling's body. "She shouldn't have."

"What do you suppose her chances are?" Breakdown asked as he gazed down at the small, still body on the medical slab.

Hook looked up briefly from rewiring a vital connection that supplied energy from the sparkling's spark to the rest of her body. "She was damaged very badly but I've not seen anything that can't be fixed, replaced or that will leave a lasting glitch. It will take some time to complete repairs but she should be able to regain close to full functionality once reactivated."

Breakdown nodded. "Do what you can. I still need to deliver my report to Megatron and inform him of the situation. Knowing him, he'll want to see her for himself. Take good care of her."

Hook barely acknowledged what Breakdown had said with a tilt of his head. The others bustling around him had ceased to exist. His entire focus now was on fixing the small body before him. This was quite possibly going to be the most important repair job of his entire medical career.

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**End of Chapter 3**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Shattered: Chapter 4 **

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**"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." **

**-Sigmund Freud **

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**Cybertron: Autobot Operational Headquarters**

Empty. That was the only word that even seemed to come close to describing how he felt inside. Even here, in the relative safety of the Autobot Headquarters, in the dark with his beloved sparkmate nestled against his frame, the hollow ache still plagued him. Of all the pain and suffering he had been witness to since the beginning of this Primus-forsaken war, losing his creation was proving to be one of the most excruiating things he had thus far endured.

There was nothing to soothe the anguish, no reprieve from the guilt, anger and denial that constantly ran through his processor in a tormenting loop. For that past several cycles, it had been all he could do to drag himself up out of his berth. Life had become almost surreal, as if he were watching himself from afar. Still, he had somehow managed to press on with the business at hand and perform the duties required of him. There were, afterall, battle plans that needed to be made, strategies to devise, and troops to be commanded.

He knew, as Prime, that the war stopped for no one. He didn't have the luxury of being able to properly mourn. There was too much that needed doing. Here, however, in his personal quarters, he could stare off into the darkness and allow the hurt tears he had held back during the day flow freely from his weary optics. He kept one hand fixed firmly over his mouth as he tried his best to muffle the pained sounds his vocal processors emitted so as not to disturb his recharging mate. Primus knew Elita desperately needed the rest. She had done more than her fair share of weeping.

To be truthful, it had never really been in his and Elita's plans to produce a sparkling. It wasn't that they hadn't wanted a creation of their own. They had...eventually. They had always told each other whenever the subject came up, that with the tense state of affairs on Cybertron that it would be better to wait until conditions improved. Together they had decided that it would have been unfair to bring another life into such an unstable and uncertain envrionment.

There was also the responsibility of the positions they each held. His title of Prime and Elita's role as Femme Commander left little time to contemplate things like starting a family of their own even if they had wanted to. In the end, it had come down to an accident, if you will. It was an overisight on their part, a moment of passion that they had gotten carried away in that had resulted in their being blessed with a sparkling. It was, he and Elita had decided, the best mistake they had ever made; one that neither of them had ever regretted, not even for an instant.

A ragged sigh escaped the Autobot Leader as he remembered the fateful trip to see the CMO that had confirmed their nagging suspicions. That had been the day he had first laid optics on his daughter's spark. It had been the most miraculous thing he had ever been privileged enough to see.

He clearly remembered his sparkmate nervously stretched out on the berth as the medic retracted the protective armor of her spark casing. He had stood off to the side, terrified to a degree of what he was certain Ratchet would find within his mate's chest and berating himself mentally over and over about how careless they must have been to be in this position. They had always been so careful. It was neither the time nor the place to even be contemplating something so daunting as trying to provide for the needs of a sparkling; not with imminent war lurking on the horizon.

XXXXXXXXXX

_"Well, Elita, I see nothing wrong with either your primary or secondary systems. All of my diagnostics have come back clean. Everything is functioning as it should." Ratchet stood back from the femme to examine his data pad. "Tell me again, how long have you been having these symptoms?" _

_The pink femme fidgeted nervously, "For a few cycles..." _

_"Mmhmm..." Ratchet scribbled something onto his data pad before looking back up at the couple thoughtfully. "When was the last time you merged sparks?"_

_"Primus," Optimus groaned and ran a hand down his face plates. "It was around the same time this all started." _

_Elita partly sat up and looked from her mate to the medic with worried optics. "You don't think...?" _

_Ratchet placed one hand on the femme's shoulder. "I'd like to examine your spark. Please lie back and retract your chest panels." _

_Optimus stepped back a few paces to give the CMO room. His entire body thrummed with nervous energy. While he had a pretty good idea of what Ratchet would find, doubts flooded his processor. Was he ready to be a creator? Was he ready to take on the responsibilty of caring for a new life? Would he be able to provide a sparkling the kind of life they deserved? _

_Ratchet's face was unreadable as he inspected Elita's spark housing unit; his optic ridges furrowed together in thought. The medic made a small, passive sound as he carefully manipulated Elita's spark with a charged rod. "Optimus..." Ratchet motioned for the other mech to come closer, his voice flat and clinical. "I'd like for you to see this." _

_"What is it?" Elita, optics wide, tried to sit up and look into her own chest cavity. _

_"Slag it, Elita! Be still, your chest plates are still retracted." Ratchet pushed he back down with one hand. "Optimus, get your aft over here." _

_The seriousness in the medic's voice drew him closer. His spark filling with dread, Optimus moved to stand at Elita's bedside, shoulder to should with Ratchet. "What am I looking for?" He peered into the opening, seeing nothing other than his mate's softly pulsing spark. _

_Ratchet's seriousness faded to be replaced with a full blown grin, something rare for the medic. "Look right back there." He carefully maneuvered Elita's spark out of the way with the rod to reveal the tiny miracle that was nestled safely behind it. _

_To Optimus, it felt as though the floor had dropped out from beneath him and he had to grip the side of the berth to keep from falling over. He felt his spark swell with emotion as he took in the vision before him. His vocal processor cracked when he was finally able to speak. "Is that...?" _

_"Your sparkling." Ratchet nodded, patting Prime on the back. "It gives me great pleasure to be the first to congratulate you both." The mech flashed another one of his are smiles. "I can't tell you how happy I am for the both of you. You're going to be wonderful creators." _

_"A sparkling..." Elita's voice was barely a whisper. "Optimus?" _

_He reached to grasp his bondmate's hand, squeezing it lovingly, reassuringly. The fear and uncertainly he had felt rapidly evaporated to be replaced by awe and an overwhelming sense of love as he beheld the small, fragile spark connected to Elita's own by a thin, coiling tendril of energy. He had never believed that such strong emotions could exist as his optics continued to drink in the sight of the new life he and his mate had created together. A sparkling...their sparkling. _

_He sent a flood of affection to Elita through their bond, letting her know that everything was going to be fine; that they could do this together. He hoped that the tiny spark inside of her could feel it as well and know just how much he or she already meant to him. He made a silent promise to the little spark at that very moment that, no matter what happened, he would always be there to love and protect them. _

_He gently stroked the edge of his mate's spark chamber with one finger, careful not to disturb the precious, new life inside. "Primus, Elita...I wish you could see it. Its so beautiful." _

XXXXXXXXXX

A drop of cleansing fluid made its way down Prime's face plates. His intakes hitched. " I'm sorry, Little One. I couldn't keep my promise to you..."

Elita strirred at the sound of her mate's voice and pushed herself up on her elbows. Seeing the amount of pain in her sparkmate's softly glowing optics caused condensation to begin to form in her own. She didn't have to ask what caused him so much grief. She understood all too well. It was a pain they shared most intimately. "Optimus..."

"I'm so sorry..." A shudder wracked his frame as emotions finally swamped him. He pulled Elita tight to his chest when her own soft whimpers reached his audios. Grief echoed back and forth across their bond. Though they would continue to carry on and function, they would also continue to mourn the very precious thing they had irrevocably lost.

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**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**Shattered: Chapter 5**

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**"The ache for homes lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."**

**-Maya Angelou**

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**Cybertron: The Nemesis**

Sway was immediately overcome by panic the moment her optics came online. It took her a long moment to realize that she was tucked safely into a nice, warm recharge berth. The sense of relief she felt was unmatched by anything she had ever felt before. Just the though that she could have easily reawakened still trapped in that dark hole caused her entire body to shudder.

She did her best to evaluate her current condition. The frightening error messages that had been flashing across her field of vision had thankfully ceased. An automatic diagnostic scan told her she was functional at 95 percent, reassuring her that she was well within normal operating ranges. The excruciating pain she had felt earlier was now nothing but a horrible memory. She carefully tested her arms and legs by gently stretching them, noting that someone had attended to her wounds. That knowledge caused a bright smile to spread across her faceplates. She knew her creators wouldn't have just abandoned her.

Pushing the foil-like heating blanket off of herself, she sat up and looked around. She was all alone but the room she found herself in was definitely set up to accomodate a large mech like her father. The space itself was elegant in its simplicity. It was brightly lit but sparsely furnished. The items it did contain, however, appeared to be of the highest quality which was a bit surprising as her creators were always telling her that there was no place for frivolous comforts with war going on around them and so many without even the basic necessities of life. The needs of the whole needed to come first. Individual wishes and wants could wait.

Shrugging off the unfamiliarity of the place, she vaguely recalled her mother mentioning something about a shuttle and figured that was she must be. She wondered where her creators were. All she really wanted to do after what she had been through was curl up in her father's lap; the safest place she knew. Looking toward the door, she made up her mind to go find them. Surely they would be thrilled to see her up and about.

Swinging her legs over the side of the berth, she carefully leaped the considerable distance down to the floor. Stumbling a bit, she made her way across the room to the door. She had to stand on her tiptoes and stretch her small arm up as far as it would go to reach the activation pad. Her fingertips barely brushed the door sensor and she frowned as the indicator flashed red, a sign that she was not authorized to operate it. Stretching her arm to its limit once again, she was met with the same result as the indicator once again flashed a hateful red at her.

Sighing in irritation, Sway sat down on the polished floor with her back resting against the door and pouted. Why in Primus' name had her creators locked her in here? She had no time to contemplate an answer as the door indicator suddenly flashed a bright green as it slid open, causing the little femme to tumble backwards and land flat on her back. Her optics blinked in confusion as she found herself staring, upside-down, at a mech who was most definitely not her father.

Smoldering red optics seemed to regard the prone sparkling with something akin to amusement. A mouth full of wicked, serrated dental plates parted as the mech spoke. "Ah, my dear niece. It's so nice to see you awake. I've been so...worried." Megatron bent to lift the sparkling from the floor. "You were damaged quite badly. You've been offline for several cycles. You're very lucky to be alive."

_Megatron_. Fear caused Sway's spark to thud rapidly within her chest. The little femme only recalled seeing her father's brother a handful of times before the war had started. She searched her memory files and recalled a tall, pristine-looking mech. She remembered a particular trip to Iacon in which the mech before her had carried her up and down the promenade of the Capital Building perched on his shoulders, pointing out various things of interest to her, as he and her father had discussed plans for a delegation to meet and discuss issues concerning political unrest.

The mech that now held her stood in stark contrast to the one that she remembered and she found herself wondering what could have possibly happened to change him so profoundly. She remembered overhearing her father speaking to her mother once about how he feared his brother was spiraling out of control in his bid for power and how he no longer recognized the mech he had known his entire life. Sway wondered if this was what her father had been referring to.

The mech held the terrified sparkling in one enormous arm as he regarded her. "Oh, come now. You're not scared of your old, uncle Megatron, are you?" He chuckled softly as he stalked across the room and eased down to sit on the corner of ther berth, shifting then sparkling to sit on his knee. He stroked the back of her helm affectionately and studied her for a moment before speaking. " Its been too long since I've seen you last. I'm sure I don't know what kinds of lies and half truths my brother has been telling since then, but there is no reason for you to be frightened. I would never hurt you, Sway. I would never abandon you as they have. Of that much you can be sure."

Sway's optics blinked in confusion. "Abandon?"

Megatron frowned and nodded solemnly at the little femme, a puff of air escaping his intakes. "I'm afraid so, Sweet Spark. Prime and Elita-1 left you to die like you were nothing but garbage. They were too concerned with saving their own sparks to worry about what would happen to a precious, innocent, little sparkling such as you."

Sway sniffed as her optics misted over. Her tiny hands balled into fists. Fear had given way to anger at the mech's insistence that her creators had intentionally left her behind. "You're lying! They wouldn't just leave me! They wouldn't! I don't believe you!"

"Oh, Sweet Spark..." Megatron tilted his head as he looked down on her with something resembling pity. "Am I lying?" He motioned around himself with one arm. "Where are you creators, Sway? Why are you here with me instead of them?" He put his hands on the femme's narrow shoulders and spoke in a hushed voice. "They obviously don't care about you. If they did, they wouldn't have ran off like a couple of cowards and left you there for me to find."

"They do care!" The sparkling sniffed. "They'll come back for me! I know they will!" She looked up to her uncle as if asking for reassurance. "They will...you'll see."

"Don't get your hopes up, Bright Spark." Megatron gently lay the sparkling down onto the recharge berth and pulled the foil warming blanket back over her. "As far as they are concerned, you're dead...one less thing to have to worry about. From what I've been told, they didn't even so much as spare a backwards glance when they ran off and left you."

Sway's lip components quivered as she fought to keep herself from crying. "It isn't true! Why are you lying?"

"Lying?" Megatron smoothed one hand over the sparkling's brow. "I'm probably the only mech to ever be completely honest with you. It breaks my very spark to tell you this. It truly does. It isn't really my place, but seeing as the situation is what it is..." He bent and tucked the blanket more securely around her small form. "They never truly wanted you in the first place. Your creation was unintentional. They viewed you as nothing more than an accident, an unwanted burden. Your father told me as much. I, however, understand what a blessing you truly are."

Sway could't stifle the sob that came out as the condensation in her optics finally spilled over onto her chrome face plates. "Its not true! They do want me!"

Megatron dabbed at the moisture on the sparklings face with one large finger. "What reason do I have to lie to you, Sway? What would I gain?"

"Mother...Father..." The femme curled up into a ball and put her hands over her audio receptors. She couldn't bear to hear anymore. Cleansing fluid continued to run freely from her optics.

"There is no need for tears, Little One." Megatron gently pulled her hands away from her helm and smoothed the blanket that covered her. "They aren't worth the energy expenditure. You need to rest. I'll send Hook in to look you over again. For now, try to get some recharge."

Sway muttered, barely audible. "I want to go home."

"You are home, Sweet Spark." Megatron stood and moved to the door. His hand hesitated over the keypad and he turned around once again to face the sparkling. "You're where you belong now, Sway. No one will ever care as much about you as I do. No one. Remember that." The Decepticon leader opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, letting the door slide shut behind him.

Hook waited obediently outside the door as instructed. "She is repaired to your satisfaction, Sir?"

"Oh, yes."M Megatron turned toward the mech. "You did a brilliant job putting her back together." He grinned wickedly at Hook. "Mark my words. She will come to renounce her creators and embrace me as her father. Its only a matter of time."

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**End of Chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6

**Shattered: Chapter 6**

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**"There is no detachment where there is no pain. And there is no pain endured without hatred or lying unless detachment is present too."**

**-Simone Weil**

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**Cybertron: The Nemesis**

Terrified of being left behind, Sway hurried along behind her uncle as fast as her smaller legs would carry her. Her optics darted fearfully around at her surroundings and cast cautious glances at the mechs they passed in the cooridor. Her uncle's continued reassurance that she was safe and where she belonged did very little to quell her rising anxiety. She didn't feel safe and she certainly didn't feel as though she was where she belonged.

In fact, her uncle's flagship, the Nemesis, seemed entirely alien to her. Thre seemed to be a feeling of cold callousness that hung in the atmosphere; the mechs serving under her uncle's command dark and sinister. The feeling was a far cry from the warmth and comraderie that radiated throughout the Autobot ranks she was used to. Sway, not for the first time since she had awakened, found herself longing for the feeling of safety and security her creators provided.

Just thinking of them made her optics well up with unshed tears. It had been three breems since the bunker she and Bumblebee had been hiding in collapsed. It had been three long, frightening breems since she had last seen her mother and father. During that time there had been no indication that anyone was out there looking for her, none whatsoever.

The seeming absence of concern for her whereabouts, along with her uncle's continued insistence that she had been unwanted from the get-go, had caused doubt to slowly creep into her processor. Could Megatron have been correct? Had he, in fact, been telling her the truth? DId her mother and father really have so little regard for what happened to her. Had she been nothing more than an unwelcome burden? Hadn't they cared for her even a little? Had they thought of her at all since they had been apart?

A hiccuping sound escaped her vocalizer as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. She had never before questioned her creators' love for her but the situation she found herself in and her uncle's words had her second guessing everything she had always believed to be true. Maybe she really had been a mistake.

"Sweet Spark," Megatron paused in his trek down the passageway to look down upon the sniffling sparkling. "Is there a problem?"

"N-no..." Sway shook her head in the negative even as her bottom lip component quivered.

"Ah, I see..." Megatron's face twisted into a crooked grin. "Thinking about _them_ again, aren't you? I've told you, they aren't worth the energy you spend on them."

"I'm s-sorry." Sway wiped at her optics with balled fists. She had quickly learned that her uncle disapproved of her dwelling on the topic of her creators.

"Oh, Sway..." Megatron bent and scooped the sparkling up and continued to carry her toward their destination. "You've done nothing to be sorry for. It is perfectly natural for a sparkling to feel a sense of sentimental attachment to their creators. Unfortunately, those feelings of love and trust are not always returned as they are meant to be. Your only crime was misplacing your devotion and loyalty. If anyone in this situation is to be blamed it is your father and mother for not caring as much for you as they should have."

Sway shuddered in the mech's arms as she considered his words. Despite everything, a part of her still held out hope that what he said was false. She tipped her chin up to look at her uncle, a melancholy expression on her face. "They told me all the time that they loved me."

Megatron made a passive sound. "Perhaps..." He shifted the sparkling to his other arm and looked her in the optics. "But their actions speak louder than their words ever could, do they not?"

Sighing sadly, Sway dropped her gaze. She suddenly had the urge to reach out; to try to touch her father. The sudden realization that she did, in fact, share a familial spark bond slammed into her. Why hadn't she thought of this before? It was so simple. She'd simply reach throught the bond, let her father know she was alive and well, and he would no doubt come dashing to her rescue. He would find her and take her home; reassure her that she was very much wanted and loved. All would be well in her world again.

However, young and unsure as she was, she had very little knowledge of how such bonds worked. It was usually one of her parents who initiated contact, filling her with their presence and quelling her anxiety. Still, she had to try.

Tuning out her uncle's commentary on the evils of the Autobot cause, and Optimus Prime in particular, she focused all her energy and concentration on trying to reach out through the familial spark bond she shared with her father.

Tentively a first, she opened up her end of the connection. At first, she felt nothing but a void. Sharpening her focus she thought she felt the slightest glimmer of _something_ familiar. Latching on to the feeling, she pushed closer. A sense of familiarity washed over her.

_'Father!'_

Sway wasn't sure what she expected to bleed through their connection. Love, reassurance, and comfort were the things she was used to feeling from her father. Instead, she was greated with the slightest tinge of acknowledgement and what felt like numbness and detachment.

She carefully prodded her father's spark in an attempt to garner a response as she tried to understand what the feelings she was receiving from him meant. Briefly, she caught a vision of herself. The powerful surge of anger that followed was so sudden that it almost caused her to cry out loud. The intensity of the feeling frightened her and she pulled away abruptly, severing the connection.

Shaking, Sway sealed her spark off from the outside. She had never before in her short life felt such things from the mech she called father and never wanted to ever again. If she was interpreting what she had experienced correctly, she was the cause of the turmoil her creator felt. The spark didn't lie. It couldn't. It was what it was and it seemed that her uncle had been truthful with her.

Clinging to the mech that carried her, she buried her face in his shoulder as her optics threatened to leak. What was there left for her to do other than allow Megatron to take her wherever he wanted her. He was, afterall, the only mech who seemed to care anything about her at all.

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_"Shh...everything is alright, love. Please stop crying." Elita paced the floor and bounced the fussy sparkling on one hip. While she readily admitted that becoming a creator was quite possibly the best thing that had ever happened to her, it was much harder work than she had expected it to be. How something so small could be so hight maintenance was beyond her. Despite the effort and attention a sparkling required, however, she loved every second of it._

_The pink femme sighed tiredly as she looked down upon her offspring. "You're clean, you're fed. I know for a fact that you're completely exhausted. I don't understand why you won't just go into recharge..."_

_Optimus watched his mate with some amusement as she tried to quiet their creation. Sway, as they had chosen to designate their little femme, ignored her mother's pleas and continued to whir and click angrily; her cries increasing in volume despite Elita's best efforts. Chuckling, Optimus rose from his seat. "Let me try, 'Lita."_

_Elita looked from her bonded to the shrieking bundle in her arms and back again with a raised optic ridge. If she hadn't been able to calm the little femme she doubted he would. Still, she mused, it would be fun to watch him try. "Alright, you asked for it."_

_"Come, Little One. Let's give your mother a break." Gently, Optimus took the little femme from his mate with a smile and brought her snugly to his chest right above his spark chamber so she could feel and hear his spark pulse. The subtle noise radiating from inside the large mech's chassis seemed to catch the sparkling's attention. Her cries slowly died down to soft, static-like bursts before stopping altogether. The femme snuggled in closer to big mech's frame as her optics drifted shut. Optimus rubbed his daughter's back reassuringly as he eased back down into his seat. "There you go, botling..."_

_"What did you do?" Elita looked at her mate with amazement in her wide optics. "I've been trying to calm her down for the passed groon! Does she have an off switch I don't know about?"_

_Optimus laughed softly so as not to disturb the recharging sparkling in his arms. "Not quite." He reclined his seat back slightly and nuzzled the top of the sparkling's helm affectionately. "I saw Ratchet earlier today and he asked how Sway was doing. I mentioned that she had been fighting going into recharge and he suggested that when she becomes upset to hold her against your spark chamber like this. He said that sparklings find the sound and vibration comforting because it reminds them of when they were connected to their creators spark. Its soothing and gives them a sense of security." He looked down at the dozing bot. "Apparently it works."_

_"Huh..." Elita looked down at her mate, a bit in awe that he had managed to not only calm their sparkling but also lull her into recharge. "I guess that makes sense." The pink femme gingerly sat down on the armrest of the chair Optimus occupied. She smiled as she looked down at their creation. "Optimus?"_

_"Hmm?" Prime looked questioningly up into his mate's optics._

_"Did you think it would be like this?" Elita softly fingered her daughter's small hand where it rested on Optimus' chest plates. "Having a sparkling, I mean?"_

_Optimus seemed to consider for a moment. "I honestly didn't know what it would be like but I will tell you one thing..." He reached for Elita, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her down into the chair next to him._

_Elita giggled and snuggled close to his side, resting her head on his shoulder. "What's that?"_

_Optimus pressed his lip components to Elita's forehead. "I wouldn't trade either one of you for anying in the Universe. I have everything I could ever want right here."_

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**Cybertron: Autobot Operational Headquarters**

Groggily, Optimus sat upright in the berth. The memory echo he had been experiencing died away as some of his higher functions came online. Something had awakened him out of recharge. The subtle, yet insistent probing at his spark pulled away almost violently leaving an empty, lonesome feeling as he onlined his optics.

In his current state, it took a moment for his processor to sort out what his spark was telling him. Vaguely, it occurred to him that Sway had been calling out for him. That, in itself, wasn't unusual. Occasionally, she would come out of recharge in the middle of the night frightened and call out to him for comfort. He took great pride in the fact that his presence made her feel safe.

Without even thinking, he swung his legs over the side of the berth and rose to his feet carefully so as not to disturb his mate and made his way toward his daughter's berth. "Its okay, botling. I'm coming. Everything is fine."

Prime moved through the darkened quarters, still only half functional as his recharge deprived processor struggled to boot up some of his other systems. He had been recharging poorly for quite some time now. Who could blame him. Every time he shuttered his optics to rest, all he saw was the bunker collapsing in on itself over and over again in his mind. It was nearly unbearable. It felt as though his very spark were being ripped out of his chest each time the vision replayed.

Tonight, however, his grieving processor had apparently decided he had taken all that he could bear of the torment for the moment and chose instead to dredge up some of the happier memories he had with his family. Not that it hurt any less. It just hurt in a different way. It simply reminded him of things he would never again have the pleasure of experiencing. He did his best to cope, shutting himself off from the feelings that threatened to overwhelm him until he was in a state of merciful numbness.

The resentment he felt for his situation, however, knew no bounds. No firewall could contain it. He had given up much in this war already. He had been forced to give up his former life and designation when he had accepted the Matrix and with it the title of Prime. He had seen his close friends and loved ones cut down in the heat of battle against an enemy he had once considered his family. Losing his only creation had nearly broke him completely.

The anger was always there eating away at him. How much more would be asked of him? How much more would he be required to sacrifice? His most prized possession had already been ripped from him. What else could he possibly be asked to give up?

For whatever reason, his overworked, under-charged processor failed to recognize the improbability of the situation as he finally found himself standing and looking down at the small recharge berth his daughter had once occupied with some confusion. "Sway?" He blinked slowly and looked around the room as reality sank in. There was no way Sway could have been calling for him. She was gone, deactivated; buried under tons of twisted metal..._wasn't she?_

All of Optimus' systems immediately came online as a surge of energy pulsed through him at the thought that she may not be. Now awake and alert he tried to assess exactly what it was that had brought him out of recharge. He had felt her. He _knew_ he had. He knew his daughter's spark as well as he knew his own.

In desperation, he reached out from his end of the bond. "Please, answer me, Little One. Please, botling, if you're there..." He reached for her as if his very life depended on finding her. He begged for her to respond, he pleaded. He prayed to Primus for some sort of sign that he hadn't been hallucinating the feeling; that it hadn't been a glitch. Vast nothingness was his only response.

"No." Optimus shuttered his optics as he reluctantly closed the bond. His grieving spark churned painfully in his chest. He slowly opened his optics. "I know what I felt. I _know_..."

He needed to talk to someone. There was only one mech he knew who would be up at this time of night that he felt comfortable talking to about what just happened. Perhaps Ratchet would have some useful input. As quietly as he could, he exited his quarters and made his way toward the med bay.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Autobot Operational Headquarters: Office of the Chief Medical Officer**

"Optimus..." Ratchet cast sad optics at his Commander. For the first time since the incident, Prime looked hopeful. The CMO hated to be the bearer of bad news but it would have been unfair to allow Prime to string himself along with false hope. "I'm sure what you felt seemed very real to you..."

"What do you mean 'real to me'?" Optimus narrowed his eyes at the medic. "It _was_ real. It _was_ Sway."

"It felt like her, I'm sure. Of that I have no doubt. I'm not sure exactly how to say this..." Ratchet moved around his desk to sit on the edge of it in front of Prime. "I'm afraid that what you've experienced is most commonly referred to as a phantom bond."

"Phantom bond?" Optimus felt the tiny glimmer of hope he had slipping through his fingers as he repeated the medic's words.

Ratchet sighed sadly. "Its a rare thing but it does happen from time to time. It occurs mainly among bonded pairs in situations where one is deactivated suddenly or among creators who lose an offspring unexpectedly." Ratchet spread a hand over his chest plates. "The spark, in an attempt to fill the rift left by a broken bond, tries to convince itself that the bond still exists. The sensations it creates are so real that the processor can actually be fooled into believing that the other individual is still there."

A pained expression played over Optimus' face. "You're telling me that what I felt was a figment of my imagination?"

Ratchet nodded sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, Optimus."

"I don't believe that. I can't." Optmus shook his head as he tried to hold on to what little conviction he had left. "She called out to me. She was frightened. She always comes to me for reassurance when she's upset. I have to find her. Wherever she is, she needs me."

"Optimus," Ratchet put a hand on the mech's shoulder. "Did you try to reach back to her through the connection?"

Prime nodded slowly, "Yes."

The CMO looked at his Commander with concerned optics. "And?"

Prime hung his head. "Nothing, but..."

"Optimus, please," Ratchet gave the other mech's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm saying this, not as a medic, but as your friend, you must stop doing this to yourself. I'm worried about you." THe medic leaned back and branced his hands on the edge of his desk. "Its been three breems. You don't recharge. You barely touch your energon. I honestly don't know how you're managing to remain upright and functional. I'll be the first to admit that I can't begin to imagine the sort of pain you and Elita must be in but you can't continue on this way. You're running yourself into the ground. What happened was nothing short of a tragedy but you can't keep blaming yourself. Torturing yourself isn't going to change anything."

"You want me to pretend this never happened?" Optimus, angry now, glared at the CMO. "You're suggesting I just move on and forget about her?"

"Absolutely not!" Ratchet looked taken aback. "I would never ask you to do such a thing! All I'm asking if for you to stop dwelling on what you can't change and try to move forward. We need you, Optimus. Can you do that much?"

Optimus shuttered his optics. "I want her back."

Ratchet nodded. "I know you do."

"No you don't." Optimus' optics snapped open, the anger in them replaced by a deep sorrow. "You couldn't possibly know."

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**End of Chapter 6**


	7. Chapter 7

**Shattered: Chapter 7**

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"**We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."**

**-Kenji Miyazawa**

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**Author's Note: Hey guys! Long time, no see! I'll keep this short and sweet... I'm so sorry for basically ignoring my stories. I'm trying, I really am. Writer's block is a BEAST! This chapter is sort of a bridge to where this story is going. The chapters to follow this one will take place after the first movie. I hope you all enjoy it. **

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. NOTHING!**

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**Cybertron: Autobot Operational Headquarters**

As time passed, nothing more was said about the experience that had roused Prime from his recharge. He had avoided discussing the incident with his mate as he was unwilling to upset her and possibly destroy what small progress she had made at moving passed the loss of their creation. He knew that, despite the tough exterior and no-nonsense attitude she displayed to those around her and under her command, inside she was still the fragile, emotional femme that had been affected so adversely by the loss of one so close to her spark. He couldn't put her through that again. He could barely tolerate it himself.

Still, for quite some time after the occurrence, Optimus had found himself obsessing over the possibility that Sway was out there somewhere trying to reach him. While it had been the opinion of the CMO that what he had felt had simply been a product of his grieving spark's attempt to soothe the void the death of his daughter had left, it hadn't stopped Optimus from pursuing the possibility that perhaps Ratchet had been wrong. If there was even the most remote chance that his beloved creation was out there, alone and defenseless, he vowed to himself that he would find her.

In the very few peaceful moments he had to himself without the chaos of the Decepticon onslaught and the demands of commanding troops, he would seek out some small, quiet spot and meditate. With his spark wide open, the familial bond he had shared with his sparkling stretched as far as it would go, he would call out for her, beg for her to open up to him. Keeping himself alert to even the slightest twinge of acknowledgement, he would plead for a response and each time he was left feeling frustrated and disappointed.

As time continued to move on, his conviction that what he had experienced had been real evaporated. In fact, with the passage of so much time, he had begun to doubt that it had even happened at all. Maybe, he decided, his friend had been right. Perhaps he should, as Ratchet had suggested that night he sought him out, put the things he could not change behind him and do his best to move on.

It was with a heavy spark that Optimus made the decision. With the utmost love and care, he reverently filed away the memories he had of his daughter. She would always hold a very special place in his spark and it was his intent to preserve that place within himself as a sort of shrine to her short life. The brief time Primus had deemed he and his mate worthy of having her were and would remain the most precious moments in his existence. He comforted himself with the knowledge that one day, when his own life came to an end and he made his own journey over to the Matrix, they would be together again.

Optimus closed his optics and allowed single drop of moisture to escape from his optic and run down his faceplate. "When all are one, Little One, we will meet again."

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**Cybertron: The Nemesis**

A pair of empty, blue optics stared vacantly. Gone was the bright vitality and curiousness that had once burned brightly within their depths. Now, all that was left was the dull glint of acceptance that came with realizing that life as it had always been portrayed had been nothing but a lie and those closest to you were not who you were led to believe they were.

Her life, Sway knew beyond a doubt, would never be the same. Everything she had believed she had known to be true had been nothing but a cruel joke. As bad as she hadn't wanted to believe the things her uncle had told her all that time ago, she now knew him to be correct. It had been a painful revelation for her at the time but one that Megatron had insisted was necessary to move on with her life.

Despite holding out a glimmer of hope to the contrary, no one had ever come looking for her. Her father never did come bursting through the door in all his gallantry to rescue her from the dark and dismal place she now called home. No one, not even her mother, had been there to comfort her as she had lain awake, trembling in a strange berth and terrified of the sinister shadows that seemed to reach for her from every corner. There was never anyone there to soothe her pain when the cold, callous surgical engineer would come for her to make the necessary adjustments and repairs to her damaged protoform as she grew.

No one cared about her. No one cared that she was lonely. No one cared that she was scared. No one cared that she hurt. No one at all, except for Megatron: her uncle, her lifesaver, and self-appointed protector. He lavished her with affection and praise. Starving for affirmation of any kind, Sway found herself striving to please him whenever she could. She would do anything asked of her if it would only reaffirm to her that there was at least one mech in the Universe that cared about and acknowledged her existence.

Under Megatron's patient tutelage, Sway quickly learned what it meant to be a Decepticon. She was determined to be the best that she could be and make her uncle proud to call her his own. Driven by her newfound loyalty to the mech who had taken her in and the anger and resentment towards the ones who had abandoned her without so much as a backward glance, she excelled at her lessons and was rewarded with the attention she so desperately craved.

Through it all, she kept in mind Megatron's constant reminder that someday, when the war was over and Optimus Prime and his Autobots were vanquished from the Universe, she would know peace. Peace was a foreign concept to the femme and something that she never truly remembered experiencing. Life amongst the Decepticon ranks certainly did not lend itself to peace, nor did it help to alleviate the war that raged inside of her but it was all that she had. It was the life she had been dealt and so she embraced it. As for the demise of Prime and his legion of followers, in Sway's pained and broken spark, that day couldn't come soon enough.

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**End of Chapter 7**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Shattered: Chapter 8**

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"**The soul is healed by being with children."**

**-Fyodor Dostoevsky, **_**The Idiot**_

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**Author's Note: Wow...I actually got another chapter done! I hope you enjoy this little update. To save some confusion, I'm setting this chapter after the end of the 2007 movie. Lennox is a Major still and I've used my artistic freedom to make his daughter a couple years older because it suited me better. **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything...not even the computer I'm typing on.**

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**Earth: Present Day**

"I really wish you wouldn't let her do that."

"Do what?" Optimus looked up from where he crouched before the youngest member of the Lennox family to see his weapon specialist looming over him with his massive arms crossed and a vaguely annoyed look upon his face plates.

Ironhide inclined his head toward the child who was currently busy smearing the plating on the Autobot Leader's enormous foot with bright yellow and green finger paints in a rough attempt at recreating the sunflowers that grew in her mother's garden. "Let her use you as an art canvas."

Optimus smiled. "They're only sparklings once, Ironhide. I see nothing wrong with encouraging the child's creativity. Besides," Optimus tilted his head to one side in amusement as he watched the girl step back slightly to admire her handiwork. "Paint washes off."

"Humph," Ironhide snorted. "That's easy for you to say. After your last visit, I was busy scrubbing pink and purple paint out of my servos for a week. Have you any idea how difficult glitter paste is to remove?"

Prime's deep, resonating chuckle filled the air. "I've never known you to be averse to playing with sparklings, Ironhide." Optimus took on a wistful expression. "In fact, if I recall, 'Uncle Hide' used to be quite popular among the little ones."

"Yeah, well..." Ironhide shifted a bit uncomfortably. "That was a long time ago."

"Indeed it was, old friend." Optimus sighed as visions of his young daughter and Bumblebee, scampering playfully about while an equally playful weapon specialist trudged along after them, flashed through his processor. "Indeed it was..."

"All done!" Annabelle Lennox clapped her sticky yellow and green hands together. "See! I make you flower, Opmist!"

The child's excited voice brought Prime out of his reverie. Rising from his spot on the ground to his full height, Optimus raised his foot and looked at the girl's artwork appraisingly. His good mood more or less restored by Annabelle's enthusiasm, Optimus' smile returned. "You certainly did, Little One." He regarded the tiny artist with a nod of his head. "And quite a lovely flower it is. Thank you."

Annabelle's small face broke into a full blown grin at the bot's praise. Full of excitement over the fact that the big mech had approved of her work, she turned toward the house where her mother sat on the back patio reading a book and took off running as fast as her little legs could carry her. "Mommy! Mommy! I paint Opmist a flower!"

Ironhide shook his head. "You just have to encourage her, don't you?"

Prime clapped the other mech on the back, an amused glint shining in his blue optics. "You've faced down the Decepticon Army. I'm certain you will find a suitable strategy for dealing with a three-year old in my absence."

"That's easy for you to say." Grumbling, Ironhide turned to follow his Commander as the other mech ambled back toward the house.

"Mrs. Lennox," Optimus addressed the woman as he came to a halt next to where she sat. "As always, your hospitality has been greatly appreciated."

Sarah stood, tilting her head all the way back to see the mech's face. "You're leaving already? Will should be home in a little bit if you want to wait and say hello. You know you're always welcome to stay and visit."

"I appreciate the offer but I really must be going." Optimus motioned towards the other mech standing next to him. "I simply wanted to update Ironhide on the status of our new facilities and figured it best to do it in person. Please, give the Major my regards when he returns and let him know that I'm sorry that I missed him and that I'll see him on Monday."

Sarah nodded. "I will."

"And as for you, Little One," Optimus knelt and leveled his gaze on the youngest Lennox who clung to the female's leg. "Mind your mother and try not to be so hard on Ironhide when I leave." He lowered his voice and winked at the child conspiratorially causing her to giggle. "He isn't as young as he used to be..."

Ironhide's optics narrowed. "I heard that."

Optimus shrugged and glanced down at his brightly painted foot. "Perhaps next time I visit you can paint me another picture."

"Ooh..." Annabelle nodded happily, her hands wringing together in anticipation and her young mind already mapping out her next masterpiece. "Yes, sir."

"Excellent. I shall be looking forward to it." Optimus couldn't keep from smiling at the child. He hadn't realized how much he had missed the innocence and enthusiasm of one so young until he had been given the pleasure of meeting Major Lennox's offspring. To experience such a thing after being deprived for so long was more comforting than he could have imagined. It gave him hope that perhaps, just perhaps, everything would be alright.

Sparklings, he had discovered, whether human or Cybertronian weren't that much different from one another. That being said, while he immensely enjoyed his interactions with the Lennox child, actually looking forward to the times he would see her as they brought back many wonderful memories of his own creation, the meetings also stirred up painful thoughts and regret. He found himself longing for the time before, for the life and family he had once had before the war had taken it all away.

So much had happened between then and now. As the time had passed, he'd somehow found the will to move passed the tragedy that had almost consumed him. He had managed to get himself under control and rein in his troubled emotions. His thoughts were no longer completely focused on the loss of his daughter. His processor no longer anguished over the 'what ifs' and 'might have beens'. His functioning was no longer impeded by grief. His spark no longer felt as if it might implode at the mere mentioning of her name. That, however, didn't mean that he still didn't think of her. On the contrary, not a cycle of his life passed when he didn't.

While it was true that the suffering had lessened with time, as Ratchet had suggested it would all that time ago, he still felt the void. There would always be a missing piece in his life; he knew that as surely as he knew anything. Being on Earth, his people having been given the chance to start over in a new home, he felt that void more now than he had in a long, long time. It came down to one simple fact: He missed his family.

Seeing Major Lennox and his family, even Sam and his parents as odd as their interactions could be at times, gave Optimus the briefest glimpse of what it was he could have had were it not for circumstances getting in the way. A family, his family, was a dream that would never be realized, not like it was before. Sway, the light of his spark, had been taken from him much too soon. His beautiful Elita, he prayed, was still out there somewhere amongst the stars. He kept the hope alive that his mate would get his message and find her way to Earth and, Primus willing, they'd see one another again. It was that hope that had kept him going on the long, lonely journey to find the Allspark. Now all he could do was wait and pray.

Getting a hold of himself before he could get completely lost in his own thoughts, Optimus gently ruffled the little girl's hair with one big finger, and gingerly stood back up. "Now, I really must be going. Mrs. Lennox, Ironhide, enjoy the rest of your evening." With a final farewell, Optimus transformed into his alt mode, backed down the driveway and headed out down the deserted country road that led ran in front of Major Lennox's house.

"Goodbye, Opmist!" Little Annabelle ran down the steps to the edge of the driveway to wave goodbye as the truck disappeared from sight.

"You know," Sarah looked from the retreating semi down to her still waving daughter and gave a light chuckle as she glanced up at Ironhide. "Optimus is really good with kids. He'd make a great dad."

Not even thinking, Ironhide nodded in response. "Yeah, he did."

Sarah looked back up at the mech, a bit confused by his statement. "What's that supposed mean?"

Ironhide's optics widened when he realized what he had said. He shook his head. Some things were meant to be private. Familial relations as they pertained to his fellow Cybertronians, especially Prime, were amongst those things. He should have never opened his mouth. "Nothing."

Her curiosity now piqued, she waited for him to say more. "Ironhide?"

"Never mind. Forget I said anything. Tell Will to come out and see me when he gets home. I want to run a few things by him that Optimus brought up." Cutting the conversation short, Ironhide stomped off toward the barn, leaving the female to stare after him.

"Yeah, okay." Sarah Lennox shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as the mech vanished from sight. "Weird, alien robots..." She glanced at her watch. It was almost time for her husband to come home. "C'mon, Annie, let's go inside and get dinner started."

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**Somewhere in Space**

The sleek, lithe form shifted slightly where it huddled amongst the strange, red, alien rocks. Softly glowing, blue optics flitted about rapidly as they took in their surroundings. How long had she been here? She honestly couldn't recall. Not that it really mattered. The only thing that did matter was that something had aroused her from her deep stasis. In the semi-darkness, she waited for whatever it was to repeat itself. She was rewarded a moment later when her comm link went off indicating a transmission had been received.

She hesitated to open the encrypted comm file as a strange sense of foreboding came over her. Whatever it was, it bore the electronic signature of the Decepticon Air Commander and had been mass transmitted to any and all Decepticons within receiving range. Experience told Sway that anything sent by Starscream and marked urgent was bad indeed. She had a feeling that whatever news the traitorous glitch found important enough to share with his fellow Decepticons was not something she wanted to hear. So, it was with an infinite amount of dread that she opened the communication.

**:**_ Lord Megatron is dead...I have assumed command...Details to follow..._**:**

A feeling of numbness washed over the femme as she reread the short message. It wasn't possible. Megatron couldn't be dead. He was powerful. He was, to her at least, indestructible. It defied all logic and reason. How could this have happened? Another insistent internal alarm alerted her to the receipt of yet another message.

**:**_ Play visual..._**:**

Her spark felt as though it had flipped over when the shaky, grainy footage began to play. She saw him, her uncle, the strongest mech she had ever known and the only family she had, at the mercy of some strange, weak, flesh-creature. She watched in complete horror and morbid fascination as the fleshling maliciously shoved the Allspark into Megatron's spark while the pit-spawned Autobot Leader looked on with grim approval.

She couldn't watch anymore. Numbness had been replaced by rage. Megatron, the Lord Protector of Cybertron, vanquished by such an insignificant and worthless creature? It was a travesty. It was an abomination. Her uncle wouldn't be remembered that way. She wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't give Optimus Prime the satisfaction, not when all he had ever caused her was pain and confusion.

**:**_ All Decepticons receiving this transmission...Report to the following coordinates and await orders..._**:**

She noted the coordinates and plotted a course. She would report but she would not be awaiting orders. She had her own agenda and it far superseded anything Starscream had come up with. First, she would find the flesh sack that had extinguished her uncle's spark and make him pay for what he had done. Then, she would find Prime and let him know that despite his very best efforts, she was indeed very much alive. It was her greatest desire that her face be the last thing the great Autobot leader see before his own spark was ripped from his chassis.

As she stood and stretched out to her full height and prepared to leave, she caught the faintest traces of another signal. Adjusting her receiver to intercept and play it, she felt her hatred increase when a hauntingly familiar voice filled her processor.

**:**_ I am Optimus Prime and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting:_

Sway smiled ruefully. What a coincidence that was. She had been waiting, too, for a very long time. Now, she would finally get the satisfaction she so richly deserved.

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**End of Chapter 8**

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	9. Chapter 9

**Shattered: Chapter 9**

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"**Since all life is futility, then the decision to exist must be the most irrational of all."**

**-Emile M. Cioran**

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**Author's Note: Thank you to all who read the last chapter and added this story to their alerts/favorites. I would especially like to thank Tanisa Bumblebrasil and Mademoiselle Juko Pax-Prime (that's a mouthful!) for taking the time to leave reviews. It really encourages me to know that you enjoy this story and helps me know what I need to work on. So again, many thanks! **

**Not too sure I'm happy with the flow of this chapter but, eh. **

**FYI…A bit of travel time has passed since the last chapter. Also, here is a bit of fun trivia. I actually found a Tranquility, CA on the map. It's in Fresno County. I'm just putting that out there because a lot of info you read about the setting of Transformers says that Tranquility is a fictional place. To that I say, HA! I found it! LOL!**

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners. The only thing I claim is this story line and my own original characters, unfortunately.**

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**The Moon: 384,000 Kilometers from Earth**

The celestial body that orbited around her destination was barren and rocky. Gravity on the small moon was nearly non-existent and clouds of fine lunar dust were kicked up beneath her peds as she bounded lightly over its surface. Situating herself carefully for the best view of the small, blue planet that hung against a sea of seemingly endless nothingness, Sway contemplated her next course of action as she absorbed what lay before her.

The planet absolutely teemed with electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves seemed to shoot from nearly every corner of the small planet at the speed of light; almost like a beacon inviting anyone passing through the galaxy to stop in. Perhaps, she mused, this flurry of activity was what had attracted the Allspark to this particular backwater locale in the first place.

Most of the information she was able to intercept across the different frequencies was more or less useless for her personal mission. Garbled voices in many different languages spoke over top of one another in an attempt to drown each other out; cacophonous noises blended together in what she could only assume were some sort of musical compositions that battled for dominance among the airwaves. The one voice she wanted to hear, the one that had brought back dark memories from a time long ago, was now silent.

A hiss of anger escaped her intakes. It didn't matter. She had been able to approximate where the Autobot leader's message had originated from on the planet's surface. That knowledge, coupled with Starscream's mass communication to all Decpticons in receiving range had given her more than enough information on where to begin her search. Accessing the encrypted data file that had accompanied the message, she again browsed through the mission protocols and intelligence updates.

She personally, had not heard from her uncle since directly after the battle he had been involved in at Tyger Pax. He had contacted her briefly after the fighting had died down to inform her that he would be setting off in search of the Allspark which Autobot forces had carelessly jettisoned into space. He had assured her it was but a small matter and that he would return with all due haste for her.

Ever dutiful, she had waited patiently for Megatron's return as she carried out his orders for the time he would be gone. Time had passed slowly for the femme in his absence. Cycles had stretched into orns, orns had stretched into vorns and yet Megatron had not come back. Sway had eventually begun to feel that familiar, sickening churning in her tanks. The fear that she had been forgotten about a second time had hit her harder that the battle hardened Decepticon she considered herself to be would have liked to admit.

Her anxiety finally got the best of her. It had forced her out on her own, away from the fighting; away from everyone. It was, she decided, better to be completely alone than to deal with the idea that she had been abandoned by a mech she idolized for the second time in her life. Hopping from planet to planet, star system to star system, she had sought solitude. It was mere chance that had brought her to star system the inhabitants of Earth referred to as Epsilon Eridani. It was an even greater chance that she had been close enough to receive the messages that both Starscream and the Autobot leader, Prime, had sent out to their respective factions.

While anger had been her most prevalent emotion upon learning of Megatron's death at the hands of the human creature designated Samuel James Witwicky, aka, LadiesMan217, there had also been a sense of relief at the knowledge that Megatron, the mech she owed her very spark to, had been detained by the humans. Her fears had been completely unfounded. He had not willingly abandoned her, not as her father had. That was all she really needed to know to spur her into action.

She picked out the information from the communication that she deemed useful and purged the rest. After confirming that the human named Witwicky was indeed the same human in the video feed Starscream had so helpfully provided, she compared the coordinates of his last known whereabouts to that of Prime's last transmission and calculated an appropriate point of entry. She would find this Samuel James Witwicky, this cohort of the Prime. She would crush his scrawny body with her own servos in her uncle's memory. Then, she would seek out Prime himself and right her own injustice.

**Earth: Edwards AFB, California, USA**

"Alright, what do we got?" Major William Lennox rushed his way into the hangar. His hair was spiked out in odd directions and looking every bit as if he had just rolled out of bed, which he had.

"Hey, man. 'Bout time you showed up." Chief Master Sergeant Robert Epps greeted the other man.

Lennox grinned. "Yeah, well, Sarah's pissed that I had run out in the middle of the night so this better be good."

"Oh, it is." Epps nodded toward the other end of the hangar where a collection of both Autobots and human military had gathered. "Looks like we might have an inbound."

Lennox made a small sound in the back of his throat. "Great. Do we know what team they're playing for?"

Epps shrugged, "That's the million dollar question."

"Well, shit."

Epps chuckled as he followed the Major to the other end of the hangar toward the Autobot leader. "My sentiments exactly."

"Hey, big guy," Lennox greeted Optimus Prime as he approached. "What's the story?"

"Major," Prime acknowledged the soldier with a tilt of his head. "I apologize for pulling you away from your family at such an odd hour."

Lennox waived off the concern, "Don't worry about it. Sarah will understand. Now why are we all standing out here at this God awful hour?"

Optimus directed his focus back to the large satellite tracking display before him. "NORAD and NASA have both confirmed an object inbound. We believe it to be Cybertronian in nature but have not been able to make any sort of confirmation as to their identity or intentions. All of our attempts to communicate have been ignored as well as rendezvous coordinates."

Lennox glanced up at the Autobot Commander, "How can you guys be sure it isn't just space junk or something?"

"Space junk doesn't abruptly change speed and course." Ironhide rolled his massive shoulders. "It's a Con, I can feel it."

"Perhaps their communications are damaged." Ratchet, the Autobot's gruff CMO spoke from where he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest. "There's always that possibility. Don't you find it a bit odd that a lone Decepticon would be making their way to Earth just as the others have fallen back?"

The big, black mech snorted, "Those Pit-spawned fraggers are all glitched. Nothing they do really surprises me anymore."

"Regardless," Optimus Prime turned from the screen to address the assembled Autobots and humans. "I'd much rather err on the side of caution. We'll treat the situation as hostile unless proven otherwise."

Lennox nodded in agreement. "Better safe than sorry. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Do we have an estimated place of impact?"

"Satellite tracking has touchdown somewhere near Black Mountain, south of Cantua Creek." Epps checked his watch. "Sometime within the next two hours if they don't make a pit stop on the way."

"Well," the Major turned to address the assembled NEST team. "What are we waiting for? That doesn't give us much time. Let's load up the Welcome Wagon."

"Autobots," Prime turned to his own men. "Let's get ready to roll out."

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**End of Chapter 9**

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	10. Chapter 10

**Shattered: Chapter 10**

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**There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.**

**-Harry Crews**

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**Author's Note: First of all, many, many thanks to those who took the time to read Chapter 9 and add this story to alerts/faves. I'm glad you're all enjoying. I'd like to give a super, big thank you to vampygirl999, Tanisa Bumblebrasil, galita, purrpix and Khalthar for leaving a review. The big confrontation scene between father and daughter isn't in this chapter but I've already started writing it and I'm pretty excited about it. Hopefully, you will approve.**

**Disclaimer: My OC belongs to me as well as this sad, little plot. The rest, well, you know the deal.**

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**Near Black Mountain , the Diablo Range, Fresno County , CA : 0430 Hours**

The ball of fire streaked through the gradually lightening sky. With the force of what could have easily been described as the impact of a small missile, it plowed into the ground throwing large chunks of rock, dirt and other debris up into the chilly early morning air. Complete silence followed. The large, smoking crater was the only evidence that anything unusual had even transpired.

It took Sway a moment to regain her faculties. In her haste to make planet fall she had over shot her landing. Coming in too fast and too steep, she had ended up slamming into the hard-packed earth with enough force to cause her circuitry to rattle. She waited briefly for the ringing in her audios to dissipate and the static to clear from in front of her optics before attempting to hoist her body from the hole.

Slender servos dug into the dirt as they scrambled for purchase on the alien terrain. With a little effort, Sway found herself sprawled out on the ground next to the pit her landing had carved in the picturesque landscape. Heaving herself up onto her peds, she surveyed her surroundings with a disgusted sneer on her otherwise lovely facial plates. Her first impression being that Earth was, for lack of a better term, filthy.

Grainy particulate and ruined vegetation she had plowed from the ground upon landing clung to her gunmetal gray protoform. Brushing herself off quickly the best she could, she hastily calibrated her internal global positioning system. She was pleased to learn that she wasn't too far from her intended destination. The human Sam Witwicky's last known whereabouts, a settlement named Tranquility, was directly to her northeast.

Time was of the essence. Sway was well aware that orbital satellites had been tracking her movements ever since she had come within the planet's range. No doubt, the human military and their new Autobot allies would be watching the skies carefully after the battle at Mission City for anything out of the ordinary. She needed to get a move on. She knew they were most certainly already aware that she had made planet fall and probably enroute to her current location.

Her first step forward sent her stumbling as pain shot through her left leg. The feeling, as if some had injected liquid fire into her energon lines, had her shuttering her optics in pain until the feeling eased. With slightly shaking servos, she gently prodded the fine welds that ringed the upper part of her left lower extremity. The surgical scars were a grim reminder of the state her Creators had left her in when they had fled without her, leaving her buried alive under tons of twisted metal to die alone a slow and agonizing death.

Each of the raised marks spoke of countless joors spent beneath Hook's scalpel and welder as he made excruciatingly painful adjustments to her damaged protoform at Megatron's direction so that her grievous injuries wouldn't impede the proper growth of her appendage as she matured. Megatron had made it quite clear that no niece of his would be left a lame defect due to the negligence and disregard of uncaring Creators. The torturous sessions in the medbay that had followed his declaration were painful but necessary to her wellbeing, he had assured her, and would only make her stronger. She had her creators to thank for her suffering he would always remind her as he stood by watching the medic do his work.

The last adjustment she had undergone to correct the damage to her protoform had been completed just prior to her reaching full height and maturity. The unfortunate scattering of Decepticon forces to various theaters of battle as the war expanded and the reassignment of the most competent medics to trauma units tasked with repairing wounded warriors and getting them back out into the fray as soon as possible to engage the Autobot resistance had left Sway without the medical services of the Decepticon's cruel but capable Chief Surgical Engineer. The result was a left lower limb that was slightly shorter, and weaker, than her right.

While under normal circumstances her defect was nothing more than a minor annoyance that lent a slight limp to her gait, her rough impact had aggravated the injury causing it to ache and throb in time with the energon pumping through her lines. Had she the luxury of time, she would have liked to have rested the painful limb until the deep, pounding feeling passed. However, knowing that her time was short, she ground her dental plates together through the pain and hurried off toward her destination as fast as her injured leg would allow. There would be plenty of time to rest once she had accomplished what she had come here for, she told herself. There would be more than enough time.

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**0500 Hours**

"I'm afraid we're too late." Optimus Prime surveyed the landing site with a strange mix of disappointment and urgency weighing on his processor. He had felt oddly anxious ever since they had confirmed the satellite presence of a possible fellow Cybertronian. It wasn't something he could readily identify but something told him that it was of the utmost importance for him to intercept the new arrival. He turned his attention to his CMO. "Ratchet, see if you can make a positive ID. I'd like to know who we're dealing with if at all possible."

"Right away, Prime." Ratchet looked his Commander over with a sharp optic as the larger mech wandered off to check on the status of the search operations. Once Prime had disappeared from sight he lowered himself into the crater and retrieved his equipment. Ratchet would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned about the other mech. The Autobot leader had been acting strangely ever since they had discovered the signal in space. At Ratchet's insistence, Prime had agreed to allow him to do a quick diagnostic scan. Other than a slight fluctuation in spark activity, which could have easily been attributed to the stress of dealing with the human authorities, the medic's scans had come back clean. Ratchet, although still worried about his leader, had let the matter drop for the time being.

"Hey, doc? What is that thing?" Major William Lennox, who had been directing a group of men via radio as they searched the perimeter, had his attention drawn by the green Hummer/robot that was now kneeling and waving some sort of handheld device over the surface of the impact crater.

"A spark scanner," the medic replied shortly.

"Ok…" Lennox waited for the medic to continue with an explanation. When the bot didn't seem inclined to explain further, the Major took it upon himself to prod the grumpy mech for information. "Care to elaborate?"

The CMO grunted in aggravation. "This device can assist us in identifying the new arrival."

"So, what? You wave that thing over a hole in the ground and it'll tell you who just dropped in from the sky?" Lennox walked to the edge of the large indention to get a closer look at what the Medical Officer was doing.

"It's a little more complicated than that, Major." Ratchet shook his head and sighed. Giving an irritated growl, he smacked the contraption he held in one hand and gave it a rough shake. "It is designed to read a bot's spark signature. Spark signatures were a very basic form of medical identification back on Cybertron. Similar to the practice of blood typing or DNA profiling on this planet, I suppose. Each spark signature is unique to the individual. The energy expenditure required to enter into Earth's atmosphere is quite large. Some of that expended energy leaks into and is absorbed by the surrounding environment, like if you were to cut yourself and leave some blood behind. This machine can take a sampling of the residual energy left behind and run it through a known database of recorded spark signatures. It has the ability to provide us with an ID and other pertinent information about the individual if they have a record on file."

"Huh," Lennox nodded in understanding. "That's a pretty handy gadget to have."

"Yes," the medic agreed with the soldier. "It would be if it actually worked worth a damn." The CMO threw his hands up in exasperation and plopped down to sit on the rim of the hole. "It's obviously malfunctioning." The sound of large footsteps nearing pulled the medic away from his troubled thoughts.

"The western ridge is clear. Have you gotten anything, Ratchet?" Optimus Prime had made his way back around the perimeter to the area where a small group of returning soldiers had gathered back around the impact site.

The medic shook his head and climbed to his feet as his leader approached. "Nothing of much use, really. The signature is fresh, I can tell you that much. We couldn't have missed them by more than 20 or 30 minutes. I can't give you a positive ID, though. The readings are...off." Ratchet stepped toward his leader and passed the handheld device over Prime's chest where his spark was safely nestled, looked at the readout and vented in confusion. "I think perhaps the calibration is a bit off. Has Ironhide reported back?"

"Not yet. He is with a group of Lennox 's men at the northeastern ridge to see if they could spot any sign of the arrival." Optimus' head tilted in question as he watched his CMO scan the impact crater again. "You look perplexed, Ratchet. What is it?"

"An anomaly, I'm sure." Ratchet again shook his head as he studied the readout the device produced. "The readings being produced are very similar to your own."

Optimus took a curious step forward, feeling something inside of him clench in expectation. "Explain."

"It appears that you have contributed to the composition of this particular spark signature."

Optimus felt a peculiar churning in his chest at the other mech's words. He could feel the energon begin to pound through his lines. An almost surreal feeling settled over him. He asked his next question with a bit of hesitancy. "Were you able to get an ID match?"

"Yes," the CMO cycled air through his vents and chose his next words carefully. "There is only one matching signature in the database, Optimus."

"Sway." Optimus said the name with all certainty. He could feel the familiar frantic need to find his daughter that he had experienced all that time ago surge to the forefront of his consciousness. Long forgotten subroutines fired off within his processor, demanding that he find and protect his offspring.

"Optimus," Ratchet saw the other mech tense. He recognized the desperate hope he saw written on Prime's face. It was the same look he had when he had come to him in the middle of the night all that time ago. "In all probability…"

"I don't want to hear your theory on probability!" Optimus shouted at the other mech. "It is Sway. Do not try to convince me otherwise."

Ratchet's arms fell limply to his sides. He stood there, slightly stunned, by his leader's outburst. "Optimus, I didn't mean…"

"She's here." Prime stepped forward and grabbed the spark scanner out of the startled CMO's hand. The Cybertronian symbols that lit the display only confirmed what Optimus already knew deep within his spark. He turned on the medic. "She survived and she's found her way here."

The medic shifted slightly under the other mech's intense gaze. "Yes, it would appear so."

_: Optimus, we've got some tracks heading down a ravine toward the main road over here: _

Ironhide's voice crackled over Prime's comm link, breaking the tension between the Autobot Commander and the CMO. The spark scanner, now all but forgotten, dropped from the mech's hand and clattered to the ground.

_: What is your location:_

_: We're on the northern slope just inside the tree line. I'm sending you the coordinates now:_

Optimus had already turned and taken off at a full run in the direction Ironhide had indicated. His spark churned. Hope he had long thought dead flared back to life within him. If there was a chance, any chance at all no matter how slight, that Sway was alive and on Earth he would find her.

_: Stand down, Ironhide. Do not pursue. Keep the NEST team out of the woods. Do you understand?:_

_: Yes, Prime, but…:_

_: I'm on my way. Prime, out:_

"Optimus, wait!"

Optimus was only vaguely aware of the sound of his CMO pursuing him and shouting his name as he ran. With his longer stride, he easily outpaced the other mech. He only slowed when the large, bulky form of the weapons specialist came into view.

"Where?" Prime spoke the question to the black mech, not as a question but as a demand.

"What's happened? Did Ratchet make an ID?" Ironhide eyed his Commander. His slightly hysterical appearance, something he had not seen in ages, told him something was amiss.

"Where, Ironhide?"

Ironhide gestured with one large, cannon-clad arm. "Over there. The ravine is just passed those trees…"

"Move."

Ironhide found himself brushed roughly to the side by the taller mech. Prime moved like a mech on a mission. The weapons specialist could only stare after him as he disappeared into the trees.

"Where is he?"

Ironhide spun back around to see Ratchet approaching quickly. "Prime headed down the ravine in pursuit. What in the Pit is going on?"

"Sway."

"Primus," Ironhide's optics widened with surprise. Of all the things he expected to come out of Ratchet's mouth, the femme's name had not been one of them. "Are you sure?"

"It's Sway, 'Hide. She survived the cave in somehow. She's found her way here. Optimus is going after her." The medic wasted no time in following the trail Optimus had left in his haste himself. Guilt gnawed at his insides as he hurried to catch up to his leader. If indeed the femme they thought dead so long ago had survived, he was responsible for discouraging Optimus from pursuing the possibility. Regardless of whether or not his old friend could forgive him for such a thing, he didn't believe he would be able to forgive himself.

**End of Chapter 10**


	11. Chapter 11

**Shattered: Chapter 11**

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**A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.**

**-H. Stanley Judd**

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**Author's Note: As always, I'd like to show my appreciation to those of you who took the time to read the last chapter. It's taken me quite a while to get back into writing anything so I do apologize if my writing isn't quite up to snuff. It takes a while to get back in the groove, if you know what I mean. Special thanks go out to those who took the time to review: XxBishxX, Lunar Mist, Mademoiselle Juko Pax-Prime, angel897, amongthestarsx, SakuraPheonix13, Lightning Streak, moonshadow2012, galita, and littledhampir13. I'd like to assure moonshadow2012 that future chapters will show that OP and E-1 did not forget about Bee. He was a well-loved little mech =)**

**Disclaimer: We all know that Transformers DOES NOT and NEVER WILL belong to me. Each time I think about it I die a little on the inside.**

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**Downtown Tranquility, CA 0700 Hours**

Early Saturday morning commuters filled the streets of the human settlement. They swarmed, crawling around one another like nano-mites on a dead, rusted out chassis. Too busy wrapped up in their seemingly meaningless existence; the humans paid little attention to the blue Skyline GT-R that rolled slowly through the streets of downtown along with flow of traffic. Dark tinted windows prevented them from seeing the empty driver's seat as well as the steering wheel and stick shift that seemed to move with a mind of their own. Turning smoothly into a dark, narrow alleyway between two buildings, the sleek car rolled to a halt and its high performance engine shut off abruptly leaving only the popping sound of cooling metal in its wake.

Sway sank down as far as she could onto her shocks and rested atop her low-profile tires. Although the ability to compact oneself into another form was a natural attribute of her species, it wasn't a function she had had to rely on in quite some time. Alone in space, there had been no need to camouflage herself or blend in with her surroundings. Her self-imposed solitude meant that there had been no need to hide from anyone. Now, as she sat crammed into the shape of a small Nissan, to say that reconfiguring her anatomy to fit into the specifications of her current form made her uncomfortable would have been an understatement.

Her injured protoform did not, apparently, lend itself well to the task of contorting into a human automobile if the painful grinding sensation she had experienced during her initial transformation had been any indication. Being slightly asymmetrical due to her slightly shorter left leg meant that, in her vehicle form she was a bit off kilter. The overall effect of her injury gave her the appearance of sitting slightly crooked on her back axle as if one of her shocks were possibly broken. Thankfully, the custom body kit that had been installed on the vehicle she had based her alt form on hid the worst of the damage and made her look more presentable.

Still, while not a glaring deformity for anyone appreciating the beauty of a finely constructed automobile, Sway could definitely feel the difference. Rolling over patches of uneven asphalt and the occasional unavoidable pot hole had further aggravated her already aching appendage enough to prompt her maintenance systems to generate a damage warning. She was uncomfortable enough that she briefly entertained the notion of transforming back into her bipedal form right in the middle of downtown, human spectators be damned, just for an ounce of relief.

'_What is pain but an affirmation that we are still alive? Be thankful that you can feel anything at all.'_

She could almost hear Megatron admonishing her for her attention to her physical ailments as he had when she had been a small, terrified sparkling undergoing painful treatment for her injuries following her abandonment by her Creators. Heeding the phantom Megatron's advice, or rather, knowing better than to argue with her Uncle, be he dead or alive, Sway pushed the pain to the back of her processor for the time being and set about gathering the information necessary to her current mission.

Information, she had found, was readily available on this particular planet to anyone with the slightest technical knowhow. A simple cross check of the Witwicky surname through telephone and other records gave her the address of a Ron and Judy Witwicky who were, apparently, the proud creators of one Samuel J. Witwicky. Samuel James Witwicky, AKA LadiesMan217 per the reports provided by the Decepticon Air Commander, wasn't a very impressive creature in Sway's mind. Megatron would have probably classified him as sadly mundane had she the opportunity to ask his opinion on the subject.

Sam Witwicky had been a mediocre student at Tranquility High School until recently when he had somehow, miraculously, been able to bring up his grades into the 90th percentile range…barely. No extracurricular activities either academic or athletic were attributed to him. He participated in no organized social groups. She could find no employment records. No doubt he lived comfortably at his parent's expense. Yes, the boy was definitely mundane at best.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing exceptional about the boy. To think that fate had saw fit that he be the one to possess the key to finding the Allspark made Sway's tanks churn. The more she learned about the boy, the sicker she felt. That such an utterly undeserving, worthless creature had brought about the fall of the Lord High Protector of Cybertron was truly unconscionable. It was a tragedy that could not go unpunished. Gathering her wits about her and bracing herself against the pain movement would surely cause her, Sway's engine roared to life even as she programmed her internal GPS system to calculate the shortest route to the Witwicky residence and merged back into the morning traffic.

**Witwicky Household, 0800 Hours**

Sam Witwicky was normally not an earlier riser on the weekends even under the best of circumstances. Given the opportunity and barring his mother barging into his room to wake him for some of what she gleefully called "Mommy-Son Bonding" that usually involved some utterly embarrassing activity; he happily slept in passed noon on most Saturdays. Today, however, was the exception. Today was special. Today marked his six month anniversary with the girl of his dreams. The one girl he had never thought would ever give him the time of day: Mikaela Banes. Thankfully, a supped-up, alien Camaro and a robot civil war spilling over onto Earth had worked wonders toward changing her mind about him.

Sam had been planning this particular day for the past two weeks. He had saved up a little money out of his allowance and had purchased his girlfriend a cute, dainty tennis bracelet he had seen her eyeballing at the mall. A fitting gift to celebrate the six month mark, he believed. There was also a hip new bistro in town that everyone seemed to be talking about and that he was certain Mikaela would love and he fully intended on treating her to a nice lunch. Afterwards, he figured they would hit the local movie theater. He had bought tickets online for a sappy, romantic movie which he was sure would bore him to tears but that Mikaela had been raving about seeing for about a week now. He figured they would end the evening in their usual fashion with a romantic trip to the overlook where hopefully, if he played his cards right, Mikaela would be feeling festive and might be willing to do a bit more than just cuddle in the back seat of his Camaro.

All his careful planning had failed to take in account one major obstacle, however. Said Camaro was now sitting in his parent's driveway, sun glinting beautifully off of its bright yellow paint, refusing to take him anywhere due to some sort of ambiguous "situation" that had popped up overnight, the details of which it didn't even seem to know. Much to Sam's frustration, no amount of pleading on his part seemed to make a difference in the Camaro's decision to follow the orders it had been given.

"Bee, look, this stuff matters a lot to girls." Sam gripped the Autobot's steering wheel tightly with both hands as he once again tried to make the mech see reason. "They're big on celebrating anniversaries and junk. I know six months may not seem like all that long to you but to Mikaela it's a really big deal. I can't just blow this off."

"Sam," Bumblebee seemed to sigh through his radio. "I understand the importance of this milestone in your relationship but until I get the all clear from Ironhide I'm supposed to keep you secure."

"Secure from what, Bee?" Sam leaned back in the driver's seat and ran a hand down his face. "Do you even know what's going on?"

"Well," The mech seemed to hesitate, "No, not exactly."

"Not exactly, Bee?" Sam dropped his hands to his lap. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Slight static rippled through the bot's voice as it rumbled through the car's speakers. "It means I don't have all the details, Sam. I told you that I had received a transmission from Optimus early yesterday evening informing me of a possible new arrival to Earth but that they were having difficulty establishing communications and that I needed to be alert for any unusual activity. When Ironhide contacted me this morning from the impact site he said they hadn't been able to intercept and that he would relay information back to me as he received it and to keep you in a secure location. That was about an hour and a half ago and I haven't heard anything since. That's all I know at the moment. I'm sorry."

The teen was growing more frustrated by the minute. "You-you're sorry? I'm about to miss out on a major life even with a girl who, six months ago, never even knew I existed, and you're sorry? You don't have a clue what's going on! The Decepticons could be holding a convention downtown for all you know! You're supposed to be a scout, Bee. Your job is gathering information!"

"Right now, my job is being your Guardian, Sam, and I've been doing just that: guarding," the normally easy-going Autobot replied defensively. "If there was a Decepticon problem, I would know about it."

"Wow, look, Bee…" Sam took a deep breath to calm his self and blew it out through his nose slowly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to come out the way it sounded. You-you're a terrific Guardian and an even better friend. I'm just a little frustrated right now, you know? I've been looking forward to today for weeks, Bee. I mean, I don't even know why we've been put on lockdown. You don't know why we've been put on lockdown. What am I supposed to tell 'Kaela?"

"I honestly don't know, Sam. I wish I knew what to tell you but no one is telling _me_ anything." The Autobot seemed to sink down onto his shocks ever so slightly. If Bee were completely honest with himself, he actually felt a bit offended that no one had seen fit to include him in the morning's business. The fact that he had no concrete facts to pass on to Sam only exacerbated those feelings within the mech. It made him feel useless not to be able to give his human friend any answers. If there was anything Bumblebee hated, it was feeling useless.

When Prime had radioed him the night before with the initial news of the possibility of another Cybertronian arriving on Earth, Bee had been excited with the prospect of who it could be. When he had also been informed that his presence would not be needed and to stand fast at his current post he had felt a bit of disappointment creep into his processor as well. He was young, yes, but he wasn't naïve. He had understood that his duty to the Witwicky family meant that he wouldn't be able to head out to intercept the newcomer with the others but he hadn't expected the rest of his team to cut him completely out of the information loop.

"Great," the teen flopped back in the seat with an annoyed grunt. "Just great…this is exactly how I pictured spending my six month anniversary: Sitting in my parents' driveway with you."

"I really am sorry, Sam. If there was anything I could do, I'd do it." Bee's radio crackled with static as he seemed to think for a moment. "Well, maybe Mikaela could come over here and see you?"

Sam snorted, "Why? So she can sit out here in the driveway with us?"

"You could give her the bracelet you bought her at least," Bee tried unhelpfully. "Something is better than nothing, right?"

Sam shook his head and reached for the door handle, "You know what, Bee? Just forget it." The boy got out of the Camaro and slammed the door. "I'll call Mikaela. I figure out something to tell her. Hopefully, she won't be pissed enough to break up with me." Turning on his heel, Sam stalked back toward the house and disappeared inside.

"Frag," Bee cursed as he watched his charge leave angrily. He really couldn't blame the boy for being upset. Bumblebee supposed if the situation were reversed, he would feel much the same way Sam did. It really wasn't fair, Bee decided, that Sam should have to forfeit his plans with Mikaela for an unknown reason. The more the mech thought about it, the more it bothered him that no one had filled him in on the details.

Bee had had enough. A quick sensor sweep told him that the coast was clear and the Scout quickly rolled the rest of the way up the driveway and into the open garage. The mech sent an electronic pulse to the automatic door opener, commanding it to shut silently behind him. Transforming in the small, cramped space back into his bipedal mode was an act of delicate contortion. Carefully, the mech pulled his legs up against his chest plate and hunched down in the corner the best he could.

Bee despised the garage, really. It was small, almost too small for him to even sit upright, and stank of stale motor oil and old, rusted metal. He put up with the accommodations because it allowed him to be nearer to his charge. Bee had become quite fond of Sam during the time he had watching over him but the mech knew that somewhere in the back of the boy's mind, he still hadn't reconciled the fact that just because Bee could _imitate_ an automobile didn't mean he _was _an automobile and it certainly didn't mean he enjoyed living in a garage. Still, it was better than being completely homeless, which had been a true possibility had they not found Earth, so Bee didn't complain. There were more important matters to be concerned with. The most important right now being the upset teenage boy he was in charge of protecting. Determined to get answers for Sam, and himself, Bee opened his communications channel and sent out a ping to the other Autobots. Someone was going to have to tell him something.

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**End of Chapter 11**

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	12. Chapter 12

**Shattered: Chapter 12**

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**"Ambition is a Dead Sea fruit, and the greatest peril to the soul is that one is likely to get precisely what he is seeking."**

**-Edward Dahlberg**

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**Author's Note: I'd like to first start with an apology to those who follow my stories. It has been entirely too long since I've sat down to write anything. I've been bombarded with work, school and family and haven't really had any "me time", if you know what I mean. I have all these wonderful ideas for the stories I'm currently working on and for some others in the future but I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and work on them. I'm going to try to sit aside at least 30 minutes a night to at least pound out a paragraph or two. I owe you guys (and myself!) that much. I truly do enjoy sharing these stories rolling around in my head with you guys and I hope that you enjoy reading them!**

**My thanks to all who took the time to read and review the previous chapter: Lunar Mist, Azalie-Kauriu, Shades-Soul, Saribee99 and Autobotsrawesome. **

**Disclaimer: Autobots don't belong to me. I just borrow them and play with them for a while!**

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**Interstate 5, Fresno County California, 0830 Hours**

How was it possible that a mech such as Optimus, one so gentle by nature and dedicated to the wellbeing of others, should have to suffer such unimaginable anguish? Why did bad things always seem to happen to the best of people? Why did evil always seem to flourish while good struggled for survival? Ratchet had been a medic for longer than he cared to recall and he had never been able to answer these questions that plagued his processor each time he was confronted with another casualty. He had never been an overly religious mech but having experienced countless vorns of warfare he had come to the conclusion that if Primus was real, he certainly had a sick and twisted sense of humor. Pushing the sacrilegious thoughts from his processor, the Chief Medical Officer focused on the situation before him.

A million different what if's and might have been's flooded his processor. Doubt still lingered in the CMO's mind as to whether the new arrival truly was the Prime's long lost creation. He had seen the site of the cave in with his own optics all that time ago when he had accompanied a reconnaissance team back into the vicinity a few orbital cycles later to determine the extent of the Decepticon's hold on the area. After hearing a graphic description of the incident from Ironhide he had not expected to find anything living down in the hole but he felt he owed it to his leader to at least make an attempt to recover the sparkling's body so that it could be properly memorialized. Prime and his mate deserved some modicum of closure at the very least.

There had been little for him to sift through when he had gotten there as Megatron's Constructicons had apparently beaten him to it. The area had been completely stripped of useful materials. The infamous bunker had been nothing more than an empty, mocking hole. Anything of any value whatsoever had been commandeered by Decepticon forces.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing was that, despite the copious amounts of residual fluids he had found in the area bearing Sway's signature which suggested a grievous injury, there had been no body for him to collect. It was common knowledge that the Decepticons delighted in desecrating the bodies of their enemies. The medic had even heard rumors that it wasn't uncommon for Decepticon Surgical Engineers to use the parts of fallen Autobots to repair their own soldiers, oftentimes while the bot was still alive and leaving them to die a slow and painful death once they were through with them. The thought of the sweet, little femme he had known having to endure any such cruelty chilled him to his very spark. He had hoped she had expired quickly.

This new information equally disturbed him. If the sparkling had somehow managed to survive the cave in all that time ago and make it all the way to Earth it opened up a whole new realm of questioning he'd just as soon not even think about. His fuel tanks churned violently as possible scenarios played out in his processor. It wouldn't do any good to get himself worked up over it here in the middle of I-5, not when there were pressing matters right in front of him.

The blue and red flamed Peterbilt 379 barreled down the interstate weaving in and out of cars and passing early morning commuters like they were standing still. There was a frantic quality to the way it moved. It was as if reaching its destination was a matter of life and death. The sound of sirens wailing and the flashing of lights behind the large truck seemed distant and of no particular concern to the driver despite the fact that the Search and Rescue Hummer rode the back bumper with barely half a car length between them. Had the truck at any time decided to slam on its brakes, there was no doubt that the Hummer would have plowed right into it with enough force that pulling anyone from the twisted wreck alive would have been a miracle.

_: Frag it, Optimus! Slow down before I'm forced to disable you! You're endangering other drivers!:_

The CMO's warning over the comm link barely registered with the Prime. The speedometer on the Autobot Commander's dashboard had topped out at 120 mph, well over the legal speed limit of 70 mph. Desperation and urgency, the likes of which he hadn't felt in vorns clenched his spark. Still, the medic's threat managed to break through his chaotic processor and register. Knowing Ratchet wouldn't have thought twice about incapacitating him on the side of the road given his current mindset, Prime eased off the accelerator.

_: Ratchet, if she's managed to find her way here…: _

_: If it truly is Sway, Optimus. We can't be certain. Not after all this time.:_

_The Peterbuilt's engine roared in frustration. : It IS Sway, Ratchet. I can feel it. She's alive and she's here. I must find her. I can't lose her again. I won't. She's all I have left of my family.: _

_: Optimus…: _The CMO sighed over the com link. He thought of Prime, so long ago, sitting in his office within the Autobot's Operational Headquarters, with a look of desperate hope written on his face. He had believed all that time ago that his sparkling had still lived. Ratchet had been the one to convince him otherwise. The medic could see no other option. _: We'll find her. I promise you we will.:_

Prime's alternate mode seemed to shudder slightly in relief as it continued to roll down the interstate_. : Thank you, old friend.:_

_: Please, don't thank me, Optimus. Just…just move aside so I can cut us a safe path through all of this traffic.:_

The blue and red semi slowed down considerably. The Rescue Hummer, lights blazing and sirens wailing, swung out around it before veering back into the lane and taking the lead position. Quickly accelerating in unison, both vehicles continued their mad dash back toward Tranquility.

**Witwicky Household, 0900 Hours**

Bumblebee was a young mech but he certainly wasn't a naïve one. He knew when he was getting the runaround. He hadn't been able to reach Prime or Ratchet over the com channel. They were either blatantly ignoring him, which he doubted, or were wrapped up in something too important to interrupt. He had eventually managed to rouse Ironhide from whatever he had been doing only to get very short, vague answers to his questions. The weapon specialist had seemed in a hurry to get the com line cleared "for emergencies" and had essentially brushed off the scout's concerns with an abrupt reminder to "mind the boy" and "keep a lookout for anything out of the ordinary" before signing off with an excuse of "keeping N.E.S.T. busy" among other things. Needless to say, Bumblebee had been left with more questions than answers.

More than a little upset that he was intentionally, it seemed, being left out of the information loop, the normally upbeat mech sat inside of the garage and contemplated his predicament. Sometimes it seemed to him that no matter how much time passed by, how many battles he fought or how many Decepticons he offlined, the others still had their moments when they would treat him like a helpless sparkling that needed to be shielded from his environment.

It was a habit with them, he supposed. Oftentimes, their overprotective behavior conjured up warm memories of a childhood that almost wasn't. Looking back, he could appreciate the pains his fellow Autobots went through to ensure that he had the chance experience as normal of a sparklinghood as possible despite the war that raged around them. It was something many other sparklings were tragically deprived of, he knew. He understood from personal experience just how easily a young life could be extinguished. It was something he had a hard time accepting in his early youth but he had grown to realize just how fortunate he had been.

Other times, like now, he found their overzealous desire to shield him restrictive and frustrating. He was young, yes, but he was no sparkling. He was a grown mech for Primus' sake. He was an Autobot veteran, an accomplished scout and a damn good guardian to his own human charge. What was it that was so beyond his realm of expertise that the others would refrain from sharing with him? The yellow mech wracked his processor for possibilities and came up blank.

Deciding that contemplating the situation was only adding to his frustration, Bee decided to do something about it. The others had their problem. He had his own. It was currently in the form of a brooding teenage boy. The mech rationalized that had there been any indication of imminent danger the others would have expressly mentioned it. They, however, had not and it was a very important date for his charge and his female companion. It also wasn't like Bee wouldn't be keeping an eye on them. He would be with the two the entire time. He was confident that he could handle any issues that would arise should there be any problems.

The mech whirred in agreement with his own thoughts. His decision made, he easily hacked into Sam's cellphone and waited patiently as it rang twice before being answered by the boy.

"Yeah, Bee…what do you want?"

Bee's voice crackled over the open line. "Sam, come back outside. I'll take you to see Mikaela."

There was a pause on the other end of the line before the boy answered. "I thought we were on house arrest or something?"

"Well," the mech cleared his vocal processor. "Technically, I have been advised to keep you secure. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to keep you secure during your date with Mikaela. Do you?"

"W-what?" Sam stuttered a bit shocked at the Camaro's change of heart. "N-no. I-I don't see any reason why you couldn't."

"Great!" The yellow mech warbled happily. "We'd better get going then. You'll want to have plenty of time to give Mikaela her gift before lunch and the movie. Perhaps you'd like to stop on the way to her home and pick up some flowers? I read on the Internet that human females love getting flowers for special occasions."

"Oh my God, Bee!" Excitement had laced itself into Sam's voice. "You're the best, buddy! I-I mean that. I really do!"

The line went dead and Bee could imagine Sam rummaging haphazardly through his room in an attempt to make himself presentable for Mikaela. The mech clicked to himself in amusement even as a tiny shiver of guilt worked its way down his frame. He kept reassuring himself that he wasn't outright disobeying an order. No, he was simply modifying it a bit to suit the needs of the human he had been tasked with caring for. Sam was, after all, his main priority. After the boy's health came his happiness and this definitely fell in the latter category. The others wouldn't even have to know they'd left the driveway since they were apparently too busy to be bothered.

Satisfied with this line of reasoning, the scout shifted back around in the cramped garage into a position that he could transform back into his alt mode. The process was slower than usual given the tight confines but after a few seconds a shiny, yellow Camaro sat where the mech once huddled. Sending an impulse to the electric garage door opener, the car waited for the door to raise before checking to make sure the coast was clear and rolling itself back out to where it had sat before to patiently wait for the boy inside.

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**End of Chapter 12**

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	13. Chapter 13

**Shattered: Chapter 13**

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"**Deception is a cruel act…It often has many players on different stages that corrode the soul."**

**-Donna A. Favors**

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**Author's Note: I consider it quite the accomplishment that I was able to get the last chapter of this story out to you guys even though it was pretty short and not really up to par with what I think you guys deserve after waiting for so long. I'll try to do better this time. I would love to get some work in on some of my other works in progress but I'll admit that I'm stumped. If anyone of you out there has any suggestions as far as storylines or any advice to get the old creative juices flowing I'd appreciate it. **

**As always, a huge thank you goes out to my readers and my reviewers (icesong180, paulsgirl, Autobotsrawesome). I truly do appreciate each and every one of you. No lie!**

**Disclaimer: I'm one of those broke student types. I don't own anything.**

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**Witwicky Household, 0930 Hours**

The sleek, blue Nissan idled quietly at the curb a block from its intended destination. The Witwicky home hadn't been that difficult for her to find. The large, brown, two-story wood and mortar building was located on a quiet, tree-lined street. The well maintained exterior with its carefully manicured foliage spoke of inhabitants that took pride in their dwelling. Taking in the peaceful surroundings Sway wondered if the Witwicky boy had ever even stopped to appreciate the life and home it appeared he had been blessed with. If she had to wager a guess, she would have said no.

For most of her life Sway had lived outpost to outpost, base camp to base camp. It was a life punctuated by brief stays onboard the Nemesis, her uncle's flagship. There had been no peaceful home to come back to at the end of the day. There was no sanctuary, no reprieve. There was no safety. There was no doting mother and father to take her into their arms and tell her everything was going to be alright. There was only war. Home was wherever Megatron decided the strategic advantage was. Home was the battlefield.

If the femme reached far enough back into her memory she could vaguely recall a different home. It was a home that seemed so far away and so long ago that she often wondered if it had ever really existed at all. Much of her memory from that time, the time before, had been tarnished by what she now knew about her existence but she still for whatever reason clung to bits and pieces of her former life. She remembered warmth and the sound of laughter. She sometimes dreamed of bright blue optics that looked lovingly back into her own. She remembered a feeling of belonging and completeness, comfort and security, love and affection. If she wasn't careful, it was easy to get carried away in the memories and the emotions they stirred within her. She had to remind herself that it had all been a lie; a wonderful, beautiful lie. It was useless to get wrapped up in the past.

The femme was startled out of her reverie when she observed a yellow Camaro exit the Witwicky's garage and roll to a stop at the end of the driveway. The flashy muscle car seemed a bit out of place in its conservative surroundings. Out of habit more than anything, Sway went into defensive mode, automatically running through battle scenarios and bringing her weapon systems online. A quick, preliminary reading on the vehicle confirmed that is was indeed Cybertronian. The bot obviously wasn't a fellow Decepticon which only left one other possibility.

Sway rolled forward slowly, careful to stay outside of the Autobot's short range scanners, in order to get a better look at the enemy. A feeling of familiarity settled over her as she took in the bot's alt form. Running through her database of known living Autobots she felt her tanks churn in recognition. She had called the mech parked in the Witwicky's driveway her friend once upon a time. A small part of her felt relief that the mech had survived the atrocities on Cybertron. That relief was quickly replaced by fury as she caught sight of the Witwicky boy hurrying out of the house and fumbling his way into the mech's interior.

Bumblebee had obviously made his choice. That was fine with Sway. She had made hers as well. When the Camaro backed out of the driveway and took off down the street toward a destination unknown, Sway followed.

**The Overlook: Tranquility, CA, 1000 Hours**

It had been the most obvious place for them to look. The Overlook had once been a popular spot for the teenagers in the area to take their dates for a little stargazing and perhaps a bit of affection. In recent years, underage drinking, loud music, and more than a couple serious accidents at the location had led the local law enforcement to crack down on loitering in the area. As such, the Overlook was mostly deserted most days. Its seclusion made it a good place for an Autobot to go just to get away from it all for a while. Its distance from the interference of the electrical grid that powered the city below also made it the ideal place from which the Autobot Commander had transmitted his message to any others that may have been hiding amongst the stars.

"She isn't here." Optimus Prime paced the edge of the Overlook anxiously. "Sway's a smart femme, Ratchet. She would have easily been able to pinpoint the location of my transmission. Elita and I always taught her that if we ever became separated that she should go to the last place she knew us to be and we would come find her. Where else would she possibly go?"

Ratchet stood off to the side, his servos clenched tightly together as he looked out over the city below. Thoughts weighed heavy on his processor. He wished for the millionth time that he could turn back the clock to that night Optimus showed up in his office to declare that his creation was alive and in need of his assistance. Had the CMO knew he would be in the situation he now faced he would have packed his gear and followed Optimus into the Pit itself to get the little femme back. That, the medic mused, would have been infinitely preferable to the predicament they now found themselves in.

"Ratchet?"

The medic's head snapped toward his leader at the sound of his name. The look that met him when his optics locked with Prime's was not the look of the stoic, battle-hardened leader that had led the Autobots this far. It was the look of a frightened and besieged parent worried for their child and asking for help. Ratchet would do what he could. It was going to be painful, he knew.

"Optimus," the CMO cleared his vocal processor. "What if it wasn't your transmission she was responding to?"

Prime stopped his pacing to study the other mech. "What are you trying to suggest?"

Ratchet squared his massive shoulders and shook his head. "She didn't dig herself out of that hole, Optimus. Even Ironhide agreed in his report of the incident that the likelihood of anyone surviving a cave-in of that magnitude was slim. If she's alive…if she's managed to make it this far she's had help along the way. Seeing Megatron fall, Starscream would have sent out a call to other Decepticons within range if for no other reason than to declare himself their new leader."

Optimus stiffened, "You believe she's been with the Decepticons all this time?"

Ratchet vented heavily. "I'm merely offering a possibility. It would go a long way toward explaining why she fled the scene of impact and why she isn't responding to your attempts to contact her."

"Primus, help me…" Optimus seemed to sag under the weight of the CMO's revelation. His optics shuttered and his hands balled into tight fists as the realization of what most likely transpired crashed down on him. "I just left her there, Ratchet. I just left her there for them to find…"

"Prime, no, you mustn't blame yourself..." Ratchet tried to console his Commander.

"I left her!" Optimus' optics snapped open and he glared at the other bot before he turned away once again to look out over the city. His voice lowered to a rumble. "My little sweet spark…how frightened you must have been. If any harm has come to you…" The leader's voice trailed off into nothingness and he stood motionless for a moment simply gazing out at the land before him.

Concerned, the medic took a couple hesitant steps toward his Commander, "Optimus?"

"We have to find her, Ratchet." Optimus straightened; his posture full of resolve. "They cannot have her. She is of my spark. I will not allow it."

"We will get her back." The medic nodded in agreement. "She is your daughter. You know her mind better than anyone. Where else would she have gone?"

"Sway has always been eager to please." A slight smile flitted across Prime's face as he thought of the sparkling he remembered before it quickly faded. "She will follow whatever directive has been laid out for her." The blue and red flamed bot turned to face the other mech, determination written all over his features. "We must find Sam."

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**End of Chapter 13**

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	14. Chapter 14

**Shattered: Chapter 14**

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"**I am the punishment of God…If you had not committed great sins; God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."**

**-Genghis Khan**

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**Author's Note: I want to apologize profusely for the time it has taken me to put out an update for this story. Life has been insane and it's been incredibly difficult for me to simply find the time to write. I have tons of ideas and no free time. It sucks! Anyway, enough about my issues, lol. Let's get on with it, shall we? Thanks so much to all of you who have taken the time to read my stories. I truly do enjoy sharing them with you. Extra special thanks to those who took the time to leave a review for the last chapter: Lady Syndra, carmeleissle5cullen, LunaPrimeStar, Elven Silver Power Ranger, Jen, WhiteCougarMatrix117, icesong180, Fallen Angel 1243, and Spirit Kiss. Your kind words and encouragement mean the world to me. And to Jen, thanks so much for the pointers. I hope you do see some of your ideas at play in this story as it progresses. I hope everyone who reads enjoys this chapter. This one should speed up the story line a bit, I think. We're getting close to a family reunion. I don't think it's going to be pretty.**

**Disclaimer: The only thing I claim is my story line and my original characters. Everything else…not mine!**

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**Cantua Creek, CA: 12.5 Miles Southwest of Tranquility. 1030 Hours**

Ironhide wasn't absolutely crazy about Earth. Firstly, it obviously wasn't very mech friendly. Either Cybertronians were freakishly large or humans were abnormally small. Regardless, it made any chance of ever living a comfortable, normal life on the planet slim but that was the least of his gripes. The human authorities could be a pain in the aft most of the time. It seemed to him that the more they gave them the more they wanted. It was beyond frustrating at times and he didn't know how Prime could stand to put up with them the way he did on a daily basis. He supposed that skill came with the mantel of leadership.

Still, he had a great deal of respect for the humans he worked with on a daily basis and whom fought courageously by their side against the Decepticon onslaught, especially Major William Lennox. He admired the man; his dedication to his family and country, his honesty, his integrity, and his advocacy for their cause. He would be hard-pressed to admit it but he had grown to consider the human soldier and his family amongst his closest friends. It was for that reason that he found the current situation highly uncomfortable. Ironhide didn't like lying to his friends.

The soldier in question sat rigidly in the driver's seat, seeming oblivious to the fact that the steering wheel of the GMC Topkick moved of its own accord as it navigated the winding road. "Ironhide, I need to know what's going on. What are we dealing with here? What am I supposed to tell my superiors? How am I supposed to explain to them that Optimus and Ratchet ran off in pursuit of some rogue Cybertronian without so much as even a brief on the situation?"

"I know who we're dealing with," Ironhide's rough voice crackled through the speakers, "and she isn't a rogue."

"Wait…what?" William Lennox swiveled in the seat to stare straight through the windshield. "You know what's going on and you're not telling me? What the hell, Ironhide? We're supposed to be partners in this thing!"

"It's personal, Will. It isn't my place." The mech seemed to trail off in his thoughts for a moment. "It was so long ago…"

"Hide, will you please talk to me?" The Major was beginning to become exasperated with the situation; his duty and responsibility weighing heavily on him. "I can't help you guys if I don't know what's happening."

"You and Sarah love Annabelle, don't you?"

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, startling the Major. "What? Yes! She's our little girl. Of course we do. What does that have to do with anything?"

The mech ignored the soldier's question, instead asking another of his own, "You'd do anything to make sure she was safe? Protected?"

"Absolutely, I would. You know that." The Major shook his head, "I'm not real sure I understand where you're going with this, Hide."

"Outward appearances aside, our species aren't that different, Will." Hide paused in his thoughts, choosing his next words carefully. Emotional speeches weren't his strong suite but he wanted Will to understand. He knew that it was sometimes hard for the humans to see beyond the mechanical appearance of his people. It was easy for the humans, even open-minded ones like William Lennox, to forget that they weren't just machines but living, feeling beings. Cybertronian emotions ran deep, deeper even perhaps than those of the human race. Perhaps if Lennox understood Optimus' frame of mind he would be more inclined to help or at the very least, give the mech space to do what needed to be done. "How would you feel if you just woke up one morning and Annabelle was gone and you believed that you had no chance of ever seeing her again?"

"Ironhide, I…"

"Answer the question, Major." The mech was trying to reach passed the soldier to get to the father inside of the man. "What would it do to you to know that you would never get to see the child you and your wife created together ever again so long as you lived?"

"I'd- I'd be devastated," Will shifted uncomfortably in his seat; the thought alone enough to make him wish to be home with his family. "I don't know that I'd be able to go on if anything happened to Annie."

"Our species forms incredibly close bonds, Will. Familial bonds, between mates or between creators and their creations, are especially strong as they consist of both the emotional and the physical." Speaking of bonds made the mech's spark twinge with pain as he thought of his own mate out there in the Universe somewhere but still he continued, "The loss of a connection of that magnitude can be devastating for a mech. Primus…I sound like Ratchet…"

Will shook his head, "I'm not real sure I'm following. What does any of this have to do with the situation?"

"Optimus may be a Prime and our leader but he once had a family much like your own; a mate and a sparkling. He and his mate lost their sparkling early in the war when the Decepticons assaulted one of our outposts. She was crushed beneath a bunker that was struck by a Decepticon missile. He's always blamed himself for causing her death. The experience took a great toll on Prime mentally and emotionally. For a time, we weren't sure that he would survive the loss. It nearly destroyed him. He may not show it but he still struggles constantly with the guilt."

"Hide, that's- that's terrible," Major Lennox thought of his own daughter and couldn't imagine ever having to live without her. The thought alone hurt his heart. As much as he interacted with the Prime on a daily basis he would have never guessed that the stoic, ever-patient mech harbored any painful secrets of such magnitude. Then again, he realized not without some embarrassment, he knew very little about his alien friends on a personal level. That, he decided, would have to change. "I had no idea…"

"It gets worse." Ironhide sighed, "Ratchet's scans from the impact site this morning pulled up a match to Sway's spark signature. It would appear that Prime has spent all these vorns mourning a daughter who is very much alive."

"His…sparkling…is alive? That's…that's good! Right?" The reality of the situation crashed down on Lennox suddenly. A pretty clear picture of what had transpired during the morning hours forming in his mind. "But, if she's been alive all this time that means…"

"It means that we've believed her dead when the reality may have been much, much worse."

"Jesus," Lennox ran a hand through his hair. "What do you need me to do?"

"I simply ask you to put yourself in Optimus' position. He's thinking with his spark right now, not his processor. If Sway is here, Prime will not stop until he finds her and brings her home. Primus help anyone who gets in his way." Hide slowed only slightly as he came to a crossroads before picking up speed once again. "I suggest giving him the space he needs to do what he feels he needs to do. I also suggest that you encourage your superiors to do the same."

"Yeah…yeah," Lennox nodded absently, still processing the magnitude of what Ironhide had just told him. "I'll see what I can do."

**Witwicky Household, 1100 Hours**

Airbrakes screamed as the Peterbilt came to an abrupt stop in front of the home of Samuel James Witwicky, a Rescue Hummer close behind. The trip to Sam's house had been an anxious one for Prime. Ratchet's words repeated through his processor on a loop. Even though every fiber of his being screamed for it not to be so, deep in his spark, he realized that his Chief Medical Officer was probably right. There was no way his little femme had made it this far on her own. As agonizing as it was to even think about, he knew that if she wasn't with the Autobots it only left one alternative. He had seen firsthand the extreme cruelty that Megatron and the Decepticons were capable of where femmes and sparklings were concerned and thinking of the bright, bubbly sparking he and his mate had been blessed with, he didn't even want to imagine what she had been through at their hands.

_: They aren't here, Optimus:_

Optimus was startled out of his dark thoughts at the sound of Ratchet's voice crackling over the comm link. He, too, had noticed the absence of both his scout and their human friend. He could feel the first inklings of panic welling up inside of him, a side effect of his recently reactivated subroutines. Not just for his daughter but for Bee and Sam as well. It made him feel completely out of control of the situation, a dangerous thing, and he struggled to tamp down the impulses that demanded immediate and drastic action to rectify the situation. After a moment, he answered his CMO.

_: My orders were for Bumblebee to remain here so as to keep Samuel safe. It isn't like him to disobey. If it is Sway. If she's already found Sam…:_

_: I'm trying to raise Bumblebee on the comm link as we speak. I'm sure that he and Sam are fine, Prime. Let's not jump to conclusions. Bee is an excellent guardian and would let no harm befall the boy: _

Yes, Optimus knew that Bumblebee was a more than competent soldier. He was also young, not much older than Sway, and the Prime would be lying if he said it didn't bother him to place a youngling in such a position. He felt apprehension and worry each time he was forced to send the scout out into the field. He had harbored such high hopes for the both of them when they were sparklings. He had envisioned a quick end to the conflict on his planet and a bright future full of infinite possibilities. Now what did he have? A daughter, possibly lost to the enemy, a youngling soldier who would never know what it was like to experience a normal life, and an uneasy agreement with an alien planet who feared his people more than they trusted them. A lesser mech, one who couldn't see passed his own misfortunes, would have already buckled under the strain.

_: That youngling will be the death of me, I swear:, _Ratchet's voice again invaded Prime's thoughts. _: He and Sam are fine. He has taken the boy out to be with Mikaela. Apparently they are celebrating some sort of relationship milestone. They are nearly finished with lunch and then he is going to drop them off at the movies:_

_: Understood:, _Prime acknowledged. _: After he has safely transported Sam and Mikaela to the theater, have Bumblebee meet us in the underground parking garage near the mall. He will need to be briefed on the situation. Have Ironhide meet us there, as well: _Prime didn't wait for a response as he rolled away from Sam's house and toward downtown. 

**Meanwhile…Downtown Tranquility, CA, 1100 Hours**

Sway continued her pursuit of the Autobot scout who was apparently, much to her utter amusement, employed as some sort of chauffeur for the human she had every intention of terminating at the first opportunity. Observant as she was, she had decided that her first impression of Witwicky was pretty dead on. The boy was quite mundane. In fact, given the clumsy bumbling he seemed prone to, he seemed quite harmless in the big scheme of things. If she had not seen the video stream Starscream had transmitted, she would have scoffed at even the thought that the gangly, adolescent human would be capable of bringing down the Lord High Protector of Cybertron. Once or twice she had actually found herself wondering whether or not it was even worth her time to pursue him. She had to stop and remind herself that is was no longer just about her and her need for vengeance against the Creator who had abandoned her to die. She had her uncle to avenge as well. She would stay the course.

The femme had stealthily followed as the pair had made a quick stop at a flower shop where the boy had gone inside and purchased what appeared to Sway to be a bundle of dead vegetation. That had been followed by a somewhat awkward rendezvous with a human female to whom the Witwicky boy proudly presented his handful of wilting grass. Judging from the female's enthusiastic reaction to the fistful of weeds and the physical display of affection that followed, Sway supposed the entire strange scenario was some sort of bizarre human courting ritual. Intriguing, indeed.

Not that Sway knew much about courting, human or otherwise. An absolutely horrifying chance encounter with a member of Megatron's elite Decepticon Infiltrator Unit, an ill-mannered mech by the name of Crankcase, had convinced her early in her life that she wanted nothing to do with mech-femme relations. While the incident itself had been both profoundly degrading and deeply traumatizing for the maturing femme, Megatron's response had been equally hurtful at the time. Her uncle had offered no sympathy or words of comfort to his tearful niece. He had simply sent the other Decepticon on his way before he gathered her up from where she had crumpled into the floor and had taken her to Hook's surgical suite. He had left her in the surgical engineer's care with directions to repair any damage the forceful mech had caused her and to ensure such an incident couldn't be repeated in the future. It was best to forget the entire thing had happened, Megatron had advised her before he quickly left the room to get back to commanding his army. Sway supposed he had been right, though she had struggled to follow his advice.

Shuddering slightly on her tires, Sway pushed aside those dark memories and watched as Witwicky and his female companion both climbed back into the Autobot's alt form. From there they had proceeded into downtown and made another stop at something called a _bistro _which Google informed her was a small restaurant where human food was served. Sway remained parked down the street, just close enough to maintain visual contact with the yellow Camaro that sat at the curb in front of the restaurant and contemplated on her status.

She had been following the Autobot and his charge for one and a half hours and was beginning to grow both irritated and impatient, mostly with herself. The entire rear end of her alt form ached painfully. She had been forced to override her maintenance routines in order to banish the annoying damage warnings that had been flashing relentlessly across her field of vision and making it difficult for her to concentrate on her task. Perhaps, she mused, she had reinjured her damaged limb worse than she originally believed. Cramming herself into an alt form hadn't helped any, she realized, and getting out of her current configuration was going to hurt when the time came. Had she the time and the opportunity, she would prefer to see to her own maintenance before embroiling herself in any kind of altercation. She knew, however, that by this time the encamped Autobots were most likely out looking for whomever had made landfall and so time was of the essence.

Strategically, it would be preferable to terminate the boy now and have him out of the way since he was the easiest target and minimally guarded. In the chaos that would follow the boy's death, she could then fall back and recuperate prior to engaging Prime for whom she knew she would need all of her strength. Bumblebee, she knew, could present a slight problem with her plan. She had thought of him fondly, once, all those vorns ago. They had been friends and playmates, nearly inseparable from the time they had first met. She accessed those old memories, ones she had not given much thought to since she had given up on her previous life all that time ago, and sifted through them to find anything that might give her the advantage against the scout.

Certainly, she read all of the battle and casualty reports that filtered down through the Decepticon ranks. Her once friend had grown to be quite the impressive soldier. Skilled in both intelligence gathering and combat, Bumblebee had managed to offline his fair share of her brothers in arms. Sway, herself, was not without her own gifts, however. Though she wasn't as enthusiastic about battle as her comrades, instead preferring to gather information and devise strategy, she, too, had been the end of a number of Autobot rebels though it wasn't an accomplishment she was particularly proud of. The taking of any life unsettled her, not a desirable trait in a member of the Decepticon army. Her uncle had always been quick to reprimand her anytime her overactive conscience had gotten the better of her. This situation was different, though. This was personal.

She poured through what she knew of the yellow mech, ignoring the pang of sorrow in her spark for all that she had lost in her life. She focused on the task at hand, analyzing. She had known him well and that could very well be the key to her success given her current physical state. He had been a sturdy sparkling, heavier and more ruggedly built than she who had taken after her mother in both looks and build. Roughhousing as youngsters had given her insight into some of his weaker points. She knew that the junction between his neck and shoulder was quite sensitive and that tweaking the wires there just right could send him into shuddering fits of giggles, manipulating the deeper ones, however, had the potential to cause extreme discomfort and even temporary paralysis on that side of the body. That had been a lesson learned the hard way and had earned the yellow sparkling a trip to see Prime's Chief Medical Officer and the two of them a stern lecture from both of her Creators about the dangers of rough play. She knew that digging her fingers into the joints of his hips also had the potential to either tease or torment and she could recall many instances when she had straddled the young mech's knees, him thrashing beneath her, begging her through ragged intakes of air and bellowing laughter to stop tickling him, while she plucked at his struts and wires. His doorwings were another sensitive area, especially where they hinged to his body and any injury to that area could be excruciating. Of course, she couldn't forget that he knew much about her as well.

Caution here was the key but if something was going to happen it needed to happen soon. The longer she waited, the greater the opportunity for the Prime and his Autobots to track her down. Mixed emotions swirled within her and she wanted nothing more than for her business on the Primus-forsaken, dust ball of a planet to be done so that she could, perhaps, for the first time in her short life have some peace. As the time ticked by she grew more anxious, more steadfast in in her resolve to do what she came to do and then disappear back into the stars.

It was at that moment the two humans chose to make a hurried exit from the bistro and pile back into Bumblebee. From down the block she could hear the scout start his engine and her own rumbled to life in response. She could sense the urgency in the Autobot as he pulled away from the curb and into the flow of traffic. A feeling of dark satisfaction flitted about the edges of her consciousness. Prime knew. She could feel it. It wouldn't be long now.

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**End of Chapter 14**

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	15. Chapter 15

**Shattered: Chapter 15**

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"**Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."**

**-James A. Baldwin**

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**Author's Note: Well, folks, this is probably the longest one I've written so far. I would like to play a little game with you guys, though. In the following chapter there are lyrics to three (3) different songs. If you can guess the original artist and song title and post it in a review, you'll win a special mention in the Author's Note of the next chapter as well as a little somethin' somethin' extra in the coming chapters…but that's a surprise (details will be sent to the winner). The answers must be listed in the order they are mentioned in the chapter or it won't count and the first person with the correct answers wins. Good luck! As always, special thanks goes out to my lone reviewer for the last chapter: Spirit Kiss. **

**Disclaimer: I only own my original character and my plot. Everything else belongs to someone else, unfortunately.**

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**Downtown Tranquility, CA, 1130 Hours**

_Oh, see the fire is sweepin'_

_At our streets today_

_Burnin' like a red coal carpet_

_A mad bull lost its way_

"So, you're abandoning us at the theater, then?" Sam sat in Bumblebee's driver's seat drumming his fingers in an agitated manner on the steering wheel as the Autobot idled in a parking space inside of the movie theater's parking garage. "How are we supposed to get home if my car is out running the streets?"

_War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away_

_It's just a shot away_

_War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away_

_It's just a shot away, hey, yeah_

"Sam…" Mikaela sighed and reached out to switch off the radio. "Bee isn't abandoning us. If Optimus needs him, he has to go. It really isn't that serious."

"No," Sam shook his head. "This has worked out quite well. Flowers, a nice lunch, a romantic comedy and then a five mile walk back home. This…this is great."

"I am sorry, Sam. I really am." Bee's voice echoed inside of the car's interior. "According to Moviefone, the film's running time is 97 minutes. I'm sure that I'll be back here to pick you up by the time the movie is over."

"And if you're not?" Sam questioned. "I think you're missing the whole point here, Bee. The entire idea behind owning a car is so that you have reliable transportation…"

"Honestly, Sam." Mikaela huffed. "I think that duty overrides any obligation Bumblebee has to drive you around." The brunette leaned forward to give the dash an affectionate rub. "Don't worry about it, Bee. If you can't make it back in time we can either take the bus or call a cab. Do what you need to do. No biggie."

"Look, I know he's a soldier and all that but I just wanted today to be special, that's all." Sam stopped drumming his fingers on the wheel and let his hands fall into his lap. "I'm-I'm sorry, buddy. I know I've been kind of annoying today. I don't mean anything by it."

"It's alright, Samuel," Bee vocalized cheerfully. The easy going bot was never one to take what the hormonal teenage boy said too seriously in the first place. "I know that today was special for the both of you. I'm just glad that we were able to accomplish what we did before they found us out. I'm probably going to get an audio full for not remaining on post at your house."

"What? What do you mean?" Sam asked. "I-I thought you got permission for us to go out."

"Well…" Bumblebee fumbled. "I _attempted_ to get permission for us to go out. I couldn't get in contact with Optimus or Ratchet and Ironhide just game me the runaround so…I used my own professional judgment."

"Bee," Mikaela started. "You didn't have to do that."

"Wow, buddy," Sam shook his head. "I didn't know. Are-are you going to get in trouble? Will Prime be mad? You can tell him it was all my fault. Tell him that I was being a pain in the ass and forced you to take me out. I can tell him for you..."

Bee chuckled, "I'm sure it will be fine, Sam." The bot's voice then took on a more somber timbre. "I'm not in the habit of disobeying but I figured under the circumstances…" The mech still wasn't happy about being left out of the information loop. "They're probably more interested in briefing me on what transpired this morning than they are that I took you two out to lunch anyhow."

"Have you gotten any word about the new arrival?" Mikaela perked up in curiosity. "I know you guys have been anxious about others receiving Optimus' message."

"No," Bumblebee sighed and sank slightly on his shocks. "I haven't received any further information aside from the original communication advising me that we had an inbound."

Mikaela heard the disappointment in the mech's voice and reached out once again to pat the dash, this time in reassurance. "I'm sure they have their reasons for not contacting you, Bee."

"Yes," the mech agreed. "You're probably right. If I do learn anything of any interest, I'll pass it on."

The two teens climbed out of the yellow Camaro and watched in silence as it pulled from the parking space and made its way back out of the garage and out into the street.

"Text me if you need me, Bee! I'll vouch for ya!" Sam shouted and then sighed as he watched the retreating vehicle, "I feel like such a douche, right now."

"It's ok," Mikaela reached out to entwine her fingers with his and laughed. "I think Bee is used to your spastic outbursts by now."

Sam's head jerked toward her. "You-you think that I'm-I'm spastic?"

"Sam," Mikaela tried to look at him seriously but could barely contain her amused grin. "You are the strangest boy I have ever met." She did smile then. "It's part of your charm. Come on, let's go see a movie."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

So wrapped up in whatever it was they were doing, no one paid any attention to the blue Nissan that had crept into the theater garage and parked silently in the darkened back corner near the exit stairs and elevator. Sway had watched the entire exchange between Bumblebee and his two human companions. She had been somewhat surprised when the two teens had exited the Autobot's alt form only to have said bot quickly leave the premises. She found Bee's departure somewhat troubling and at the same time quite a fortunate turn in an otherwise unfortunate chain of events.

She watched as the pair of humans linked hands and then turned to make their way across the garage and into the theater. The urge to simply run the boy down and be done with it as he crossed the garage to enter inside the establishment flitted across her consciousness but something, a tiny inkling of remorse perhaps, kept her wheels firmly planted on the concrete. A tiny voice in her head, one that it had taken her many vorns and many tears to vanquish, chose that particular moment to rear its ugly head.

'_What have you become, femme? Is this what it's come to? Seriously considering running down helpless organics in a parking structure? Is this truly who you want to be?'_

"I am my uncle's niece." Her own voice startled her as it poured out of her speakers into the vacant interior.

'_Are, you? Are you really sure about that, Daughter of Prime?'_

"Prime is not my father. A father would not leave their creation to suffer through all I have been forced to endure." Her voice waivered. "A father would go to the ends of the Universe to see to the wellbeing of his offspring. I have only what Megatron has been gracious enough to provide me with. He is the only family I have ever known. I have no father."

'_The only family you've ever known? I recall things much differently. There was a time when you weren't filled with such fear and hatred. There were happy times and laughter…love...'_

"Lies." Sway's voice had taken on a hard edge. "It was all lies. I've seen the truth. I've lived and learned to deal with what I know. I'm no longer that naïve, young sparkling waiting for a hero to come and rescue me. Heroes don't exist. Not anymore. I'm not sure that they ever did."

'_And you believe that by killing Prime and the boy that it will somehow restore to you that which you've lost? Fill the void that you feel? Misery only begets more misery. Perhaps reconciliation…"_

"No!" She had forgotten how much she had hated that condescending voice. It knew just how to cut to the quick and hurt her in the worst possible ways. There was no reconciling the wrongs that had been committed against her, not now. Her voice lowered into a whisper. "I deserve satisfaction for all that I've been through. At the very least I deserve that much."

Sway waited for the voice to chime in again, to tell her how irrational she was being. When it remained silent she took it as a sign of agreement and sank down gratefully to rest atop of her tires. She was hurt and exhausted, physically and emotionally. It was not a good combination for a soldier on the eve of battle. What would Megatron say if he could see her now? What would he think if he could hear the thoughts running through her processor?

He would be disappointed, she knew. Disappointed that she had neither the gumption nor the fortitude to be the kind of soldier he wanted her to be. Disappointed that, after all of this time, she still hurt for the sparklinghood she vaguely remembered. Disappointed that, as much as she wanted to hate, she didn't have the disposition to truly do so. She wanted so much for someone to be proud of her, to claim her as their own, that she had done her best to embrace his teachings and be who he wanted her to be. After all, he had kept her alive, tended to her wounds, and provided for her as if she were his own. The only thing he had ever asked of her in return was the rejection of her past and her complete devotion and loyalty to him alone. There shouldn't have been any debate on her part but she had never quite been able to shake the feeling that there was something more being left unsaid.

Now, she would never know. Megatron was dead and she was alone in the Universe once again. Solitude had served her well in the past, protected her, but now the thought of true isolation brought a feeling of despair. That was enough to kindle just enough resentment about her situation in her spark to propel her forward. Any thoughts she may have had about backing down left her. She would, for once in her life, make Megatron proud.

Fifteen minutes had passed since the Autobot scout had left and there were no signs of his return. Sway's long range scanners told her that the coast was clear. She accessed the surveillance footage she had stored of the boy's last interaction with his Autobot guardian and replayed it, a plan already formulating in her processor. A quick access of cell phone records gave her the information that she needed and quickly utilized. Turning on her satellite radio, she found an appropriate station, and she settled down to wait.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

The line at the refreshment stand had been a long one. Sam and Mikaela picked their way carefully through the crowded, darkened theater in an attempt to find a pair of seats. The previews had already started to play which was a little disappointing since they had missed at least half of them. Sam always had enjoyed watching the previews. They gave him something to look forward to on the entertainment front.

"Hey, watch it buddy!"

"I'm-I'm sorry…excuse me," Sam apologized to an older man as he stumbled over his foot in an attempt to reach an empty seat. "I didn't realize there would be so many people out this early," Sam whispered to his girlfriend as he guided her through the dark.

"Yeah," Mikaela agreed. "Maybe coming on opening day wasn't such a good idea. This place is packed."

"Well," Sam sighed as he finally sank down into a seat, pulling Mikaela down into the seat next to him. "It's too late now. We're stuck here for the duration."

"Sam…" Mikaela warned.

"Yeah, yeah…I know." Sam chuckled. "Protecting the planet and all that stuff…"

"Shhh!" The man Sam had nearly stepped on leaned over to shush them. "Some of us are trying to watch a movie here. If you two want to talk I suggest you go out to the lobby where we don't have to hear your conversation."

"Sorry…" Mikaela grimaced and squeezed Sam's hand. She leaned over to whisper in her boyfriend's ear, "Someone didn't take their happy pills this morning…"

Sam couldn't help but laugh which prompted another, "Shhh!" from the man.

"Yeah, ok." Sam nodded in his direction. "We're shutting up now."

The man frowned disapprovingly and turned back to glare at the screen.

Sam blew out a puff of air and shrugged at Mikaela. The brunette simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. The two had just settled down as the lights went completely dark and the movie began to play. Suddenly…

_Toot that thang up mami, make it roll_

_One you pop pop, lock it for me girl get low_

_If yo mama gave it to you baby girl let it show_

_Once you pop, lock, drop it for me maybe we could roll, oh…_

"Oh, for God's sake!" The man in the seat next to the pair exclaimed, "Seriously? Turn that damn thing off! Freaking kids…no respect…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Sam apologized as he dug through his pockets to find his cell phone.

Mikaela giggled, "Nice ringtone."

"Heh…yeah." Sam blushed but was finally able to dig the offending gadget out of his pocket and silence it. Looking at the strange series of numbers displayed, his brow furrowed. "That's weird."

"What?" Mikaela leaned over to look at the screen. "Who is it? Aren't you going to answer?"

"It rang for a text." Sam looked at the brunette. "I think it might be Bee."

"Well," Mikaela pressed. "What does it say? You told him to let you know if he needed backup."

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Sam conceded, opened the message, read it, and then sighed. "I guess the movie today is a no go. Bee says he needs us to come back outside. I guess there was a problem after all."

Mikaela nodded, "Its fine, Sam." Taking in her boyfriend's disappointed look she added, "We can always come back another night."

"Yeah, alright." Sam gathered his things and stood, making his way back out of the seating aisle with a quiet, "excuse me" to the irritated man next to them.

Mikaela smiled brightly at the man as she passed, "Enjoy the movie!"

The man's frown deepened as they scooted by and mumbled under his breath, "Good riddance."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Even the darkened parking garage seemed bright compared to the pitch black theater and both teens squinted as they busted out through the exit doors. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the change in light and when they did, both teens looked about themselves in slight confusion as they wandered back toward the parking space their guardian had recently vacated. It was empty.

"Well," Mikaela looked up and down the row of parked cars trying to spy a flash of bright yellow amongst the sea of darker colors. "Did he say to meet him back in the garage or out front at the curb?"

Sam dug his phone back out of his pocket and reread the text message. "It doesn't say. I assumed he meant back where he dropped us off."

"Maybe we should check out front," Mikaela suggested.

"Yeah, ok," Sam nodded. "Elevator is this way."

The pair linked hands once more and began to make their way through the parking structure toward the elevator. Completely unaware, they were, that they were being watched the entire time. They also failed to notice when the engine of the Skyline GT-R parked right near the elevator rumbled to life. What they did notice however, was the headlights of said car switching on and pinning them, temporarily blinded by the sudden brightness, in place much like a deer who had the unfortunate luck to wander out onto a highway.

Dread and the first threads of fear began to weave themselves in Sam's gut as he realized that the car in front of them was not his friend. He hoped against hope that the vehicle they faced was just a normal car and not an alien and if it was an alien he hoped they were both on the same side. Lifting one hand up to shield his eyes against the bright light, he swallowed thickly.

"Hello?"

_I envy your demise_

_I hope it's all you dreamed it would be_

_One bullet in this gun_

_Not sure if it's for you or me_

Sam had taken a deep breath and a few steps closer. He was close enough now to make out the music playing on the car's radio. The windows, however, were darkly tinted making it nearly impossible for him to tell whether or not there was someone inside behind the wheel. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

_I envy your demise_

_With all the guilt you hid away_

_All the lies that I had spun_

_And all the times I'd wish you'd stay_

_Now, all, all that I've ever suffered_

_All, all, that I'll ever be_

_All, all, that I'll ever ruin_

_You can always cover me with makeup_

"Sam…" Mikaela whispered and tightened her grip on her boyfriend's hand when he tried to scoot even closer to the car to get a better look. "I really don't think that's a good idea. I don't think that text came from Bee…"

Realizing that his girlfriend was probably right, the pair began to back slowly away. Keeping his eyes locked on the blue Nissan, Sam fumbled with his phone. If Bee wasn't here, he needed to get here ASAP. He wasn't sure where the scout was supposed to meet Prime but he prayed it wasn't too far away. The young mech had given him a number to reach him on the comm channel if there was ever an emergency and the Autobot wasn't around. Sam had scoffed at the mech at the time, claiming he had saved the world and was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He was glad now that his guardian had hacked into his cell phone and added himself to his list of contacts just for spite.

"Give it to me…" Mikaela seemed to read Sam's mind and grabbed the phone from his hand. She surfed through Sam's contact list while the boy continued to watch the vehicle for any movement.

The Nissan, too, seemed to realize the pair's intentions. The rev of an engine and the squeal of tires on pavement were the only warnings the two had. Sam only had enough time to shove his girlfriend out of the path of the oncoming car before he found himself splayed across its hood and hanging on for dear life as it plowed into him with enough force to knock all of the air out of his lungs.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Traffic seemed to creep along at a snail's pace and for Bee, a mech who enjoyed driving fast on the open road, it was almost a form of torture. He really hadn't wanted to leave Sam and Mikaela alone at the theater. He'd actually had an uneasy feeling all morning almost as if someone was watching him from afar. So convinced he was that he was being followed that he had scanned his immediate area continuously all morning. His scans all came back negative and he had chalked the feeling up to a guilty conscience resulting from disobeying orders.

Truthfully, the mech dreaded seeing the look of disappointment that would most likely be gracing his leader's face plates. That look alone had always done more to affect him than any punishment he had ever received for getting into trouble as a sparkling. He'd almost rather undergo a complete checkup with Ratchet than have to see that look of fatherly disapproval Prime was so good at giving. That look, though dreaded, also warmed the youngling. That a mech, especially one of Prime's stature, cared enough about an orphaned sparkling to offer himself in any sort of parental capacity, especially after all that had transpired in his own life, still amazed Bumblebee.

_: Bumblebee, what is your status?:_

Ironhide's gruff voice cut through the yellow mech's thoughts and brought him back to the slow moving traffic he was currently stuck in. _: I am a quarter mile out but estimate my time of arrival to be between 20 and 30 minutes due to traffic congestion:_

_:Figures: _Ironhide vented, _:I'm stuck in it to. I hate this fraggin' planet. No one here knows how to drive:_

Bee had to chuckle at the irritation in the weapon specialist's voice.

_: Don't laugh, youngling,: _Ironhide scolded. _:Don't think I've forgotten that you disobeyed a direct order. It's your fault I'm sitting in this Primus forsaken lunch hour mess. I told you specifically to remain at your post per Optimus' orders: _

_: I know,: _Bee's dejected voice sounded over the comm line. _: I am sorry…:_

_: Don't be sorry,: _Ironhide snorted. _: Sorry doesn't get me out of this slaggin' traffic and it doesn't change the fact that you broke protocol:_

_: Ironhide, I…: _Bee was going to come to his own defense but didn't get the chance to finish his thought as he was alerted to an incoming message from Sam's cell phone. He answered on the first ping. "Sam?"

"No, it's me, Bee." Mikaela's hurried voice whispered frantically. "You have got to come back like now."

"Mikaela?" The bot could easily pick up the fear and anxiety in the girl's voice. "What's wrong?"

"Sam got a text and we thought it was from you and we came outside and…and…" The girl trailed off, obviously near tears. "There was someone here."

"Who was there? Talk to me 'Kaela," Bee urged. "I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."

"A Decepticon." Mikaela was crying now. "Please, Bee, you have to hurry. They're trying to, to… Oh, my God!" The girl screamed so loud that it caused the mech's audio's to ring. "Sam!"

Panic seized Bumblebee's spark. "Mikaela! What's happening?! Mikaela?!" The mech was left calling the girl's name into dead air as the comm link went dead. Immediately, he reopened his link with Ironhide. _: Ironhide! Something's wrong! I have to go back! Sam and Mikaela are in trouble!: _

Bee didn't wait for the other mech to respond. Turning sharply to the left and into the other lane of traffic, he cut off the driver creeping along beside him and received the blaring of a horn and a loudly proclaimed curse in return. Bouncing across the grassy median, Bee slung himself around and into the traffic heading in the opposite direction. Thankfully, drivers heading down this side of the street were having a much easier time. His accelerator pushed all the way down to the floor, Bee disregarded the posted speed limit. Doing the calculations, he estimated he could reach the theater in five minutes if he pushed it. He hoped and prayed that would be soon enough.

"Hang on, Sam and 'Kaela…I'm on my way. Just hang on."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

One moment Sam was clinging to the hood of the car for dear life and in the next he found himself flying through the air when the car's wheels locked and the front end slid around to the right, flinging him off. The teen's flight was stopped when he slammed full force into one of the concrete pilings that supported the parking structure. Sam felt all the air leave his lungs on impact and he struggled, mouth gaping like a fish out of water, to suck in more oxygen. His landing had stunned him and he was only vaguely aware of Mikaela yelling out in horror.

"Oh, my God! Sam!"

He shook his head to try to dispel the ringing that had begun in his ears. As his bearings slowly returned to him he was able to focus once again on the car that had ran him down. He had only a moment to take in the sleek, customized body of the apparently homicidal car before the familiar sound of a Cybertronian transformation filled the parking structure. The process was slower than what the teen had witnessed in the other bots he knew. A painful sound, like the grinding and screaming of metal rubbing against metal had him slamming his hands over his ears as the transformation neared its end.

Still wheezing, Sam eventually found himself staring up into a pair of vivid blue optics. His head still spun from the impact as his brain tried to put together a clear picture of the bot that limped toward him. Though his experience with the Cybertronians so far had conditioned him to believe that the blue of its optics meant it was a friend, the disgusted look on its chrome facial plates and the tense set of its body as it advanced towards him suggested otherwise. The bot was a deep blue, which Sam's sluggish brain associated with the evening sky just after sunset. It was slender, softer-looking, and curvier than the mechs he was familiar with. Feminine was the word that popped into his addled head. It stopped, just a few feet from where he lay crumpled on the ground and knelt slightly causing him to have to crane his aching neck back to keep focused on its face.

"Are you Samuel James Witwicky?"

Sam blinked dazedly, trying to put together the words the bot had spoken. Its voice had been light and airy…girlish. Had there not been so much malice and hate behind the words it would have been pleasant to listen to. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Mikaela as she tried to inch her way around parked cars to get closer to him. He shook his head at her, stretching out one palm toward her urging her not to come closer.

The bot seemed to notice the young brunette also, shooting her a warning glance before refocusing its attention on the boy. Servos balled into fists the bot slammed them down on either side of his downed form causing a spider's web of cracks in the concrete. Sam winced as it asked its question again more forcefully.

"ARE YOU SAMUEL JAMES WITWICKY?!"

"Y-yes…" Sam nodded his head. "Yes, I-I'm Sam Witwicky."

"Good. That wasn't so hard, now was it?" The bot's lip components stretched into a tight, pained smile. "My designation is Sway. You and your…Prime…have ruined my life. Now, I'm going to ruin yours."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**End of Chapter 15**

**XXXXXXXXXX**


	16. Chapter 16

**Shattered: Chapter 16**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"**There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery."**

**-Dante Alighieri**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Author's Note: Alright guys, this is it. The big reunion scene between Optimus and Sway is now complete and presented for your scrutiny. What I see in my head did not translate well into the written word but I hope I've done it justice for you. **

**Song Answers: 'Gimme Shelter' by the Rolling Stones**

** 'Pop, Lock, and Drop It' by Huey**

** 'Poor Impulse Control' by Jack Off Jill**

**Cybertronian speak is in **_**italics.**_** POVs are separated by XXXXXXXXXX…I'm not going to label them. I think you guys are smart enough to figure it out **__

**Disclaimer: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 years of age should avoid any prolonged exposure to this fanfic. Discontinue reading if any of the following occur- Itching, rash, dizziness, slurred speech, seizures, stroke, heart attack, profuse sweating, heart palpitations, or sudden blindness/deafness/loss of sensation. I do not own Transformers.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Theater Parking Garage, Tranquility, CA**

"My designation is Sway. You and your…Prime…have ruined my life. Now, I'm going to ruin yours."

Sam could do nothing more than lie there as the bot lunged toward him. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the bot's fists to come down upon him, to break more than just the concrete this time. The fatal blow he expected never came, instead he heard Mikaela's voice ring out, echoing through the parking structure.

"Hey, scrap metal! Leave him alone!" The brunette's eyes widened in fear as the bot spun around to face her, momentarily taking its attention off of Sam. Her first instinct was to run but she found herself paralyzed in place, incapable of looking away from the utter anguish that was written all over the Cybertronian's face.

Dental plates bared and optics narrowed, Sway focused on the small, human femme. "Mind your place, female. My quarrel is with Prime and the boy. I do not wish any more destruction than absolutely necessary but if you get in my way I will end you without hesitation."

Mikaela let out a squeal as the bot reached out and shoved the parked car closest to it in her direction. She skipped backwards between the two parked cars nearest her, narrowly avoiding being caught by the sliding Cadillac which crashed into the rear bumpers of the cars on either side of her. The force was great enough that it pushed the other two cars back against the wall of the garage. The femme had effectively boxed her in, cutting her off from Sam.

Mikaela's brief distraction had given Sam enough time to struggle to his feet. He shuffled backwards away from the infuriated bot. His head swiveled left and right, looking for some sort of way out of his current situation. He stopped his retreat when the bot turned its attention back toward him. He needed to stall for time. He needed to stay alive long enough for Bee to get back and diffuse the situation. It sounded easy enough, right?

The teen gulped, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat. Even the tyrannical Megatron, whom he had been close enough to look in the optic, hadn't seemed as emotionally charged and unstable as the Cybertronian he now faced. He stretched his arms out toward the bot, hands splayed wide in a gesture he hoped it would interpret as both a gesture of peace and surrender. "L-look, okay, I'm not sure what I've done to piss you off but I'm sure it's all just a big misunderstanding, alright? You…you seem a little tense right now, y'know?"

The blue bot, Sway it had called itself, seemed oblivious to his rambling as it continued to advance on him. Sam, too, continued to retreat from the limping, shuffling femme, going as far as he could until the backs of his legs hit the low retaining wall that created the parking structure's only barrier between him and a steep fall down to the empty field behind the building. Casting a glance behind himself, he gulped again. Two stories suddenly seemed very, very high.

A slight tremble had worked its way into the teen's voice as he continued, "Sway, was it? I-I think that we all just need to take some time to calm down and relax. We-we can call up Optimus and sit down and talk this out like civilized, rational people. Prime's a great guy and I'm sure if you just explain-"

"Do not speak to me of Prime!" The blue femme's optics blazed almost purple causing the teen's mouth to audibly snap shut. She sneered, a look that seemed strangely out of place on an otherwise lovely face and her voice bordered on the edge of hysteria when she spoke again. "All of this is Prime's fault! All of it! Your precious Prime will get what is coming to him. As for you, boy, for your role in aiding and abetting rebel Autobot forces, for facilitating the destruction of the Allspark, and for your participation in the the assassination of the Lord High Protector of Cybertron, I sentence you to termination as is Decepticon protocol."

"T-termination?" Sam's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Wait. Let's-let's not be hasty. We can figure this out. We can-"

Sam didn't get a chance to finish his thought because he suddenly found himself falling as a blast from the femme's arm cannon basically vaporized the concrete he had been standing on. Someone was screaming. He wasn't sure if it was coming from him or from Mikaela. He didn't have time enough to figure it out before he hit the ground.

**Tranquility, Autobot Designated Meeting Place**

_: Optimus, are you alright? :_ The CMO worriedly scanned his Commander, concerned by the visible trembling of his alt form.

_: Honestly, I am not sure, Ratchet. :_ Optimus Prime's alt form thrummed with excess energy. It was nearly killing him to wait on the others to arrive in order to brief them on the morning's events and lay down a plan. Everything in him demanded that he be out on the streets searching for his daughter. More than once he had to remind himself that the circumstances had most likely changed. This was no longer just a simple exercise in finding Sway and bringing her home safely. There was the very real possibility that his daughter had come to Earth on official Decepticon business and as such he was bound by his word to ensure that there were no human casualties should the worst happen. He would have been a liar if he said the very idea of his only creation being in opposition to him didn't make his spark feel like it was going to split in half. He hoped that wasn't the case but with every moment that ticked by that he was unable to contact her, that hope became ever dimmer.

_: Optimus, we have a situation. : _Ironhide's voice cut into the comm channel startling Prime out of his dark thoughts.

All of Optimus' systems instantly went on high alert and his tanks churned. _: Explain. :_

_: Bumblebee received a distress call from Mikaela. She said a Decepticon engaged them outside of the theater. The call was disconnected before he could get any more information. He's currently in route as am I.: _

_: Transmit me that address. : _Prime's engine had already roared to life, his GPS already calculating the fastest way to reach his destination. _: I am on my way. If it is her, Ironhide…do not engage unless absolutely necessary. :_

_: Understood. : _Ironhide signed off but not before interjecting one last thought. _: We'll bring her home, Optimus. Ironhide, out. :_

Ratchet roared out of the parking lot behind his Commander. He, too, could feel the urgency of the situation. Though not religious by nature, he did send up a prayer then. He prayed that Sam and Mikaela, dragged into their war against their will, would remain safe until help arrived. He prayed that Bee found them quickly. He prayed that Optimus would be able to regain that which his spark desired so intensely. He prayed that Sway was not too far gone for them to save. He also prayed for his own forgiveness as he believed that somehow this situation could have been avoided altogether had he not been so quick to dismiss his Commander all that time ago.

**Theater Parking Garage, Tranquility, CA**

Mikaela screamed in horror, unable to do anything more than watch as a blast from the femme's pulse rifle crumbled the concrete beneath Sam's feet and sent him tumbling over the edge of the structure. She scrambled over the hood of the car that trapped her, then. She only caught a glimpse as the femme leapt off the ledge after Sam. Not knowing what she planned to do to help but unwilling to cower in the garage while her boyfriend suffered who knows what kind of fate at the hands of the Decepticon, the brunette sprinted for the staircase. Taking the steps two at a time, she busted through the outside door and into the bright sunlight just as a bright yellow Camaro squealed to a stop at the curb.

"Bee!" Mikaela ran toward the Scout and practically flung herself across his hood.

"What happened, 'Kaela? Where is Sam?" Bee took in the young woman's disheveled and frantic appearance and felt his spark clench in anticipation of the worst.

"D-Decepticon!" Mikaela panted out between ragged breaths. "Sam…he fell…the back…they're in the back!"

Bumblebee's engine roared and his wheels spun as he jumped the curb and floored his accelerator, leaving his human friend to follow behind on foot. All of his battle systems were online and Primus help any Decepticon punk who thought it was a good idea to attack his charge. In the back of his processor, however, he berated himself for ever thinking that leaving the Witwicky's driveway had been a good idea in the first place.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sway hit the ground…hard. Usually graceful despite her infirmity, the jarring impact sent waves of pain crashing through her systems and the neural synapses in her left lower extremity felt like they were on fire. She grit her denta together and willed away the glaring damage and maintenance warnings that swam before her optics. Instead, she focused her attention on locating the Witwicky boy.

He was there, tangled up in a mass of native flora. The fall, she noted with some disappointment, had not been enough to offline the soft, fragile human. He was scratched, bruised and bloody but the bushes he had the fortune to land in had provided him enough cushion that he had escaped fatal injury. She watched him struggle for a moment to right himself and crawl out of the foliage.

The pain in her leg had tempered some of her initial rage. Oh, but she was tired…so very tired. She wanted nothing more than for it to be over and done with. Decepticon or no, she did not practice the cruel and sadistic methods of her brethren. To neutralize the enemy was one thing. To demoralize them and revel in their suffering was something else entirely. She brought her pulse rifle online, powered it up and took aim. She was doing him a favor, really, she mused. Despite the wrongs the boy and his Prime had committed against her personally, it was better that he die by her hand rather than one of the others like Soundwave or Starscream. His death would be, at the very least, quick if not painless.

XXXXXXXXXX

Bumblebee rounded the side of the building at full speed. His scanners searched desperately for his charge. He located Sam and breathed an internal sigh of relief. The boy's vitals were erratic but they were present. He was alive but if the Decepticon looming over him with its weapon drawn had anything to do with it, that status would be changing very soon.

Bee launched himself at the threat, transforming as he went. Battle mask locking into place, he plowed into the Decepticon from the side, knocking it to the side just as it fired at Sam. The shot went wild, striking instead the ground to the right of the teen; throwing up a geyser of dirt and blue sparks instead of the burnt and mangled human flesh that had been its intention. Bee's momentum had caused both bots to slam into the ground and roll down a steep embankment leading to a drainage ditch behind the theater building and into murky, scummy water.

The Decepticon spluttered in surprise as the fetid ditch runoff seeped into its intakes before it had a chance to seal them off. Bee straddled its waist, one hand locked around the Con's wrist to keep its pulse rifle pointed in a safer direction and the other trying to get a grasp on its neck struts to subdue it but the slimy mud both were now covered in was making it difficult to do anything other than slip and slide against one another in a desperate attempt to keep each other at bay. It also didn't help matters that the Con had come back to its senses enough to begin bashing him in the side of the helm with its free fist. It thrashed beneath him, legs kicking and flailing as it tried to unseat him.

Bumblebee had a slight size and weight advantage over his opponent and only vaguely recognized the form beneath him as belonging to a femme. The soft mud beneath them also worked to his advantage as their combined mass had caused the Decepticon to sink slightly into the waterlogged earth. The scout's luck shifted, however, when in a sudden burst of strength and dexterity, the Con jackknifed beneath him, tossing him pedes over helm to land flat on his back on the sodden ground. It happened so fast that he had barely had time to register the pain in his doorwings and the uncomfortable grittiness of the mud in the sensitive circuitry before he found himself in the position he had previously imposed on his enemy.

He shook his helm and tried to focus. He looked up to find a pair of enraged blue optics burning brightly back into his own. The faceplates that hovered above him were set in a look of grim purpose and determination. Mouth components twisted into a cynical smirk as the other bot took in his own countenance. It tilted its head in what could have be construed as a thoughtful gesture had it not had its pulse rifle pressed against his chest plates directly over his spark chamber. The femme's designation flitted just out of reach at the edges of his processor.

"_Hello, Bumblebee,"_ the femme spoke, then. _"Long time, no see. It's a shame we have to meet again under these circumstances."_

Everything seemed to click into place in that instant. Long forgotten and fond memories of sparklinghood flooded his processor. His optics widened in recognition and he retracted his battle mask; a small sliver of hope flared to life within him. His vocal processors formed her name without any input from his processor. _"Sway? Is it…really you?"_

The sound of her name coming from another's vocal processor seemed to startle her slightly. Her tense form relaxed just a bit as she vented forlornly_. "It's nice to know someone remembers me after all this time. I'm sorry it has to be this way. I truly am."_

"_You- You're alive…"_ The yellow mech had nearly ceased his struggles. He opted instead to stare up at the femme with overly bright optics in a state of awe and disbelief. He shook his helm, _"I thought…we thought…"_

"_That I was dead?"_ Sway's lip components twisted into an angry snarl and her body tensed again in anger. She pressed her pulse rifle more firmly against the scout's chest plates causing the mech to wince and go back on his guard. _"Sadly, no, I am very much alive. Disappointed?"_

Bumblebee's faceplates scrunched in confusion. Disappointed? Why in Primus' name would he be disappointed to see his long lost friend alive and well? He was overjoyed…elated, even. Though, he was having a difficult time processing the schematics of their tense and violent reunion. It was…not right. _"Sway…I don't under-"_

"Bumblebee!"

The shout had both bots heads snapping over to look up the embankment. Sam had managed to right himself and had made it to the crest of the hill with Mikaela's assistance. The worry was evident on both teen's faces when they saw their guardian lying beneath the bot who had just tried to kill Sam a few moments ago.

The femme pulled her attention from the duo at the top of the hill to glance briefly back down at the Autobot scout. Using her good leg, she pushed herself to stand. She glared down at the yellow mech who was still too stunned with the turn of events to move from his prone position. _"I just want the boy."_

Her voice was flat, devoid of any emotion. Bee suppressed a shudder at the dead look that had entered into her optics. This…was not the femme he knew so well all that time ago. This was not the friend he had cared so much about. Her faceplates were not meant to be twisted into such a look of hatred and disgust. Her optics should not be reflecting this type of pain and fury. This was wrong and there had to be some way he could fix it.

His thoughts were disturbed when she quickly spun around toward the couple on the embankment and once again took aim with her pulse rifle. He would later credit his lightning fast reflexes on saving Sam for the second time that day.

"_Sway, no!"_ He lunged up out of the mud, shackling one slender wrist in his larger hand tried to pull her back down to the ground. What he hadn't expected was for the snarling femme to turn back and discharge her rifle at him.

XXXXXXXXX

Sway's optics widened in shock and horror as she stared at the smoking end of her pulse rifle. She felt the warm servos wrapped around her wrist fall away. Her attention shifted to fixate on the smoking, sparking hole that now decorated the scout's chest just right of center. Her actions had been instinctual. It had not been her intent to harm her once-friend. She had no quarrel with him. He had done her no harm. He wasn't that much older than her and certainly hadn't contributed to the torment she had been forced to endure. She had meant what she said. She had only wanted the boy.

Her optics lifted from the damage she had inflicted to meet Bee's hurt and disbelieving ones. Her lip components parted. She wasn't sure what she could possibly say. Energon was pouring from the gaping wound now. That, coupled with the scent of ozone lingering in the air from her pulse rifle's discharge threatened to make her purge her tank. Her servos twitched as she fought down the urge to tend to the mech she had just maimed. Instead, she schooled her features into a mask of neutral disinterest, something she had had much practice in doing, and eyed the other bot coolly. _"Stupid mech."_

"Oh, God! Bee!"

Sway's attention was drawn back up to the pair at the top of the hill. The hysteria that had entered into the Witwicky boy's voice conveyed his growing concern for the status of his guardian. His fear of her proximity, however, held him back from coming any closer. The female had tears in her eyes and clung to the boy as if doing so would somehow change the reality of the situation.

"Please, Bee…get up!" The pair looked on helplessly, their encouragement unheeded as the mech sank back down into the muddy ditch.

Sway chanced a glance back down to the Autobot scout whose optics had grown dim. She knew enough about anatomy to know that her shot had most likely severed the main energy feed from the bot's spark chamber. She had suffered a similar injury all that time ago when a beam from the collapsed bunker had penetrated into her chest cavity and gouged a chunk out of her own spark chamber. She knew the yellow mech felt numbness creeping over his body as his processor deactivated certain energy pathways in order to reroute precious resources to his vital components to keep his spark burning. So much death. So much destruction. So much waste. So many casualties. It was all that she had ever known.

It was the sound of transforming that finally broke through the ringing in her audios enough for her to pull her optics away from the slow death in front of her. Hate and resent flared back up within her as she was finally faced with the root of all of her misery.

XXXXXXXXXX

Never before had Optimus Prime been filled with such conflicting emotions as he was at this very moment. He was torn between love and terror; love for the daughter he had wanted back so badly and terror over the scene that was being played out before his very optics. Sam, battered and bruised but thankfully alive, and Mikaela were alive and accounted for and for that he was grateful. Bee, however, appeared barely functional and the cause of his current state still loomed over him tense and agitated. For a moment Optimus couldn't even will himself to move as reality weighed down upon him. Sway…his Sway…his beloved creation had turned her weapons against them.

"Oh, Primus…" Ratchet had transformed right behind Prime, his own optics widening at what he saw. Medical protocols demanded that he render aid to his downed colleague but he to found himself momentarily stunned into submission as the gravity of the situation became all too painfully apparent.

"Sway…what have you done?" The words left Prime's vocal processor in a sad, low rumble but they were loud enough to cause the femme to take notice and whip her helm around to face him. Taken aback, he was, by the intensity of the loathing he saw on her once innocent face plates.

"What have I done?" The femme sneered. "You, of all mechs, have the audacity to stand there and ask me what I've done? Take a look around you, _father_…" the femme spit the word out as if it left a bad taste on her glossa. "This…all of this…is of your own design."

: _Optimus, you must get her away from Bee so that I can stabilize him_:

Optimus nodded minutely at Ratchet's comm. He had not failed to notice that his youngling had re-aimed her pulse rifle at him. He had also not failed to notice the way she stumbled slightly as she shuffled a few steps closer or the way she seemed to favor her left leg. He held his hands up in front of himself, servos splayed in an attempt to placate the young femme. His voice was low and soft, the way he used to speak to her when trying to comfort her. "Sway…please Sweet Spark…lower your weapon and step away from Bumblebee so that Ratchet can help him. Then he can attend to your injuries…"

"Do not speak to me as if you care!" the femme snarled, "This is nothing compared to what I've endured! Nothing!"

"What in the Pit is going on here?" Ironhide had arrived in the middle of the tense standoff. Seeing a weapon drawn against his Prime, his own cannons reflexively came online. "Lower your weapon, youngling."

"Shoot her, Ironhide!" Sam Witwicky's voice rang out from where he and Mikaela still looked on from the crest of the small hill.

"Yes," the femme agreed. "Shoot me, Ironhide." She continued to eye Optimus coolly, her aim never wavering. "Finish what my Creators could not. Put me out of my misery."

"Stand down, Ironhide." Optimus took a tentative step towards his daughter. "Please, Little One, let me help you."

The weapon specialist heeded Prime's order, retracting his cannons but ready to whip them back out at a moment's notice should the need arise. Following Prime's lead, he too took a slow, careful step nearer the distraught bot. "Listen to your Creator, femme. We only want to help you."

"You want to help me?" Sway laughed but the sound was devoid of any real humor. "Where was your help when I was dying down in that dark hole? I don't need your help. I don't need anyone." She smirked at Optimus. "Take a good hard look, Prime. You created this."

Optimus visibly cringed, her words cutting through him like a knife and threatening to shatter his very spark. "You…have every right to hate me."

"Oh, I do." Sway nodded. "More than you can even begin to comprehend."

From behind, Bumblebee managed to summon up just enough energy to make one final move. Using what little reserve he had, he willed his limbs to work. He lunged forward, as best he could, and rammed his shoulder into the back of the femme's knee joints. Her legs nearly buckled and she stumbled forward in an attempt to stay on her feet. The yellow mech only had enough time to barely register the flurry of activity that followed his actions before succumbing to emergency stasis.

"Ratchet, help Bee!" Optimus moved quickly. It only took him a few large strides to cover the ground that separated him from his daughter. In one large hand, he grasped the arm that housed her pulse rifle and twisted. Spinning her around to where her back was pressed against his chest plates and her arm bent behind he tried to subdue her all the while pleading desperately with her to cease her struggles.

Sway lashed out violently at her captor. All the resentment she had built up for her so-called father over the years came rushing to the forefront of her processor. With her free arm she swung wildly at the mech who held her in a firm grip. Her slender servos dug blindly behind herself into small, sensitive places, grasping at cables and wires, ripping free whatever she could latch on to and delighting in the shower of sparks and flow of energon her actions produced. Prime's grunts of pain sounded like music to her audio receptors.

Ironhide attempted to help his struggling Commander by seizing the femme's other arm and wresting it away from Prime's chassis. "You are only making this harder on yourself, femme!"

Sway bellowed in anger, "Do not touch me, you fragging glitch!"

"Do not hurt her," Optimus commanded.

"Hurt her?" Ironhide groused. "I'm more worried about her hurting one of us. Primus, she's strong for a femme."

The two mechs continued to struggle with the enraged femme, trying to force her to the ground. Sway, was having none of it and continued to spit curses and cause as much damage as she possibly could to both with her mobility limited by their restraint. The sudden, intense pain she felt, however, caused her entire form to seize. A loud, sickening pop ripped a blood-curdling scream from her vocal processor as the weak, damaged metal of the underlying protoform of her left leg finally gave way under the combined weight of the two mechs pressing down on her. Sway crumpled to the ground, both mechs collapsing on top of her.

Optimus was the first to move. "Get off of her!" Protective protocols fired off in his processor and he roughly shoved Ironhide out of the way. Something was terribly wrong with his creation. He bent over her strangely still form. Cupping her face with both hands he tried to rouse her, "Sway…speak to me Sweet Spark…what's damaged?"

"Let me look at her," Ratchet rose from where he was tending to Bee and made his way over to the others. Optimus shot him a concerned and questioning look.

"Bee will be fine," Ratchet nodded. "I've got him stabilized. That femme either has surprisingly good aim or surprisingly bad. Cut the main energy feed from his spark but totally missed the spark chamber. He'll be back to his usual antics in no time."

Optimus vented heavily in relief. "Thank you, Ratchet."

"No," Ratchet shook his head. "Please don't thank me…at least not yet." The medic turned his attention to the downed femme, quickly assessing her injuries. His optics zeroed in on the cause of her condition with ease through the gaps in her armor. "She's broken the main support strut in her left leg. It appears to be a clean break but she is in shock." He pulled a syringe full of a glowing purple liquid from subspace. "I need to sedate her, Optimus. I'll be able to tell you more once I can get her back to the med bay and examine her."

Optimus nodded his understanding and turned to Ironhide. "I…apologize for my outburst."

Ironhide shook his head. "No apologies are necessary." The burly, black mech clapped his leader on the shoulder. "Let's just get these younglings back home where they belong."

XXXXXXXXXX

From the shadows of the parking garage above, a pair of red optics watched the struggle below finally come to an end with no small amount of satisfaction. The Decepticon watched at the three mechs gathered their wounded for transportation back to wherever the human government was allowing them to stay. The femme was of particular interest to him…always had been. The mech smiled wickedly to himself. If he was very careful…if he played his cards just right…this development could be extremely beneficial to his own personal mission. Quietly, he backed away from his perch and transformed back into his alt mode, exited the garage and was quickly absorbed into the busy flow of traffic as if he had never been there at all.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**End of Chapter 16**

**XXXXXXXXXX**


End file.
